Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[gourimoko]

Well, LeBron bricked the two free throws that would have won the game. Time for the usual suspects to blame this loss on Kevin.

I actually think playing Kevin MORE would've put this game safely away from the Rockets. I dunno why he's so misused over the season.

 

[gourimoko]

Second game in a row Mozgov saw little action. Is he in the dog house or injured or something?

Agreed.. Was thinking the same thing.

Blatt wanted to stay small, ride the hot hand; but I think that was a mistake. We had no way to get easy buckets from Love/Mozgov, and we had no interior defense.

 

[LeShaq]

@LeShaq , so are these threads supposed to be where fans come in a fellate their favorite players? Two or three posters have said outright, that other posters should not criticize our players or team. I'm not trying to pounce on Kevin Love, I'm saying "hey, this guy isn't performing up to par; something isn't right!"

Is your view, "nope, we're winning, don't wanna here it?"

What are we here for if not to discuss basketball?

Instead of you guys making yet another post about how we shouldn't be talking about Kevin Love in the Kevin Love thread, just state your case. You think he's playing great? Then say so...

I don't care what you think and won't be taking posting instructions from you now or in the future. Manage your own posts, don't worry about telling me how to manage mine.

Criticizing Love is totally fine with me. The Pining For Wiggins/Obsessive Love Criticizers are the people who bother me. If you don't fit into that category, don't worry about it. If you do, well, then my guess is that at some point someone like myself will respond to your potential whining and possible I-wanna-do-over complaints.

We are what we are now. I would rather support the players we have now than endlessly rehash something we can't change, or basically wait for the team to lose so that I can vent my often-ignorant anger towards Kevin Love.

It gets old and people are tired of it. I'm one of the people tired of it. So I'm going to speak my piece, whether that works for you or not.

 

[All4One1ForAll]

I'm sick of Love getting all these excuses about "being on the bench too long, so he can't get in a rhythm" and "not getting enough touches." Those excuses aren't made for anyone else. Accept what playing time the coach gives you, go in, and play your game. We gave him THREE SHOTS in the last 4 minutes of Regulation, and he missed them all. 2 threes and a close range layup, which he absolutely had to make. He had 0 after the 3rd quarter. No more excuses.

 

[Cratylus]

I actually think playing Kevin MORE would've put this game safely away from the Rockets. I dunno why he's so misused over the season.

I get the feeling that LeBron decided to make this another "statement game" (like he did against GS) going against another MVP candidate in Harden. Love seemed pretty hot from the outside in the 3rd, and then he missed a few mid-range and post shots early in the 4th and they completely went away from him.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Love played really well tonight. I think if he wouldn't have been pulled for so long, he would have had an amazing game and maybe shot better in the fourth. But maybe he tweaked his back or got stiff during the third and was getting treatment or something. Who knows.

 

[Willard513]

Good game from Kevin Love... but I just feel as though he's still not being used correctly.

No touches at all in OT? Why?

Easy. Lebron.

 

[godfather]

I think Love doesn't deserve criticism for this game. LB went into 2009 mode, and it was just terrible.

I don't think LB was healthy either. I am not concern, or upset over this game.

I am more worried going forward. Go ahead, and look at the next 10 games. We need LB and Kyrie right, or its going to get very ugly.

Blatt has gone back to bad Blatt though. His coaching was weird. I don't blame the loss on anyone particularly. We weren't at our best, not everyone played great, and will still almost won.

 

[All4One1ForAll]

Love played really well tonight. I think if he wouldn't have been pulled for so long, he would have had an amazing game and maybe shot better in the fourth. But maybe he tweaked his back or got stiff during the third and was getting treatment or something. Who knows.

You disagree with my post when all I stated were facts. Tell me. Where was I wrong? The Blind Love glorifiers need to accept that this guy is not playing like a superstar, which is what we traded for and expected - NOT a role player averaging one more point per game than Waiters last year on the same FG percentage and a worse 3P percentage.

 

[Willard513]

Made no sense to me personally. Wanted to see Love help balance the offense. Instead, it was all LeISO. Blatt's gotta run a better offense than that.

Gour, no disrespect because your one of my favorite posters here, but to put this on "blatts offense" and not Lebron chucking and bricking is comical. We all know that blatt doesn't run the play, and if Lebron doesn't want to run it then he won't. Simple as that. Especially after the first half of this year, that should be very obvious.

If I was Kevin love, I would be furious at Lebron(and a little at blatt for taking him out for so long). Kevin was playing great and shooting great, and Lebron just decided he would put the team on his back to a fat L in the loss column.

 

[OHSportsFan9]

Hard to FIT IN when you're LeIso'd OUT

There was one play in particular late (4th? maybe OT) where Love started to go set a screen for LeBron, then bailed, flared to the corner...and threw his hands to his side in confusion/frustration because he had no clue what offense was being run. (hint: there was none)

Felt for him there because I was just as confused/frustrated. That was 12 minutes of LeBron ballstopping while he took part in his MVP battle.

It'll be good to get Kyrie back.

 

[jlegg21]

Agreed.. Was thinking the same thing.

Blatt wanted to stay small, ride the hot hand; but I think that was a mistake. We had no way to get easy buckets from Love/Mozgov, and we had no interior defense.

Not to mention having Moz at the rim wouldve made Harden's life a little tougher. Oh well...

 

[Baseline Runner]

Love had 19 shot attempts this game. He was quiet down the stretch but so was the whole rest of the team as Lebron was in Le-iso mode.

 

[brownsbuck6]

LeBron played - far and away- the most selfish game of the year.. add to that Kevin had no plays run for him late in the game and sat for a really long time. That's the biggest takeaway I have on the subject.

That being said, I don't think it's unfair either to expect him to come in and make shots no matter HOW long he's been sitting. Especially the big layup he missed. He was also slow rotating on defense late in the game. He really contributed next to nothing down the stretch of this game, and it's fair to point out ALL the reasons why. Some his fault, some beyond his control.

It's not so black and white. This is turning into a Couch / Holcomb debate with so many people shouting polarizing opinions.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

You disagree with my post when all I stated were facts. Tell me. Where was I wrong? The Blind Love glorifiers need to accept that this guy is not playing like a superstar, which is what we traded for and expected - NOT a role player averaging one more point per game than Waiters last year on the same FG percentage and a worse 3P percentage.

You stated an opinion I disagreed with. Nothing factual about it. I think rhythm and "coming in cold" are things that have been talked about widely about many players, shooters in-particular.

I'll take third option averaging a 17-10 double-double and being an immense outside threat from the 3 point line when you have two elite scorers that thrive driving to the basket. He's also an extremely improved defender when not asked to anchor the entire defense.