Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[crowned1]

Don't want to put it all on Love, but he was taking it out of bounds repeatedly after getting beat with a sort of sheepish grin/grimace of, "oops" with the ball handler getting the inbounds. Just wondering how it makes that guy want to reward you on the offensive end for your poor effort on the other end. We really got some of Andy and Tristan best efforts tonight, and Love blew it.

Lebron was constantly mad at Love for his defense and you could see it evemthough Lebron was so bad.

 

[Dr. Claw]

The comment about Love not really being put in position to play to his strengths is on the mark. I hate seeing Kev trying to do a Tristan-like "garbage man" job, he is routinely getting beaten at the rim. I also agree that the dribblin' is killing the ability to get others involved in the offense.

 

[LoveStan]

Patience is a virtue.

 

[Kbiz]

Sadly, our only guard that is decent at feeding the post is still injured. LBJ wasn't looking for him down the stretch...that's on him.

I would like to see Love get some burn with our 2nd unit to see if we can just get him going so he isn't an afterthought in these grinder-type games. Everyone is saying that Irving or James should always be on the court but Love showed in Minny he can single-handedly dominate games.

Still chalking these growing pains up to chemistry and rotation tinkering.

 

[MoFlo]

Don't want to put it all on Love, but he was taking it out of bounds repeatedly after getting beat with a sort of sheepish grin/grimace of, "oops" with the ball handler getting the inbounds. Just wondering how it makes that guy want to reward you on the offensive end for your poor effort on the other end. We really got some of Andy and Tristan best efforts tonight, and Love blew it.

1.) This isn't the first game that he's been forgotten about offensively.

2.) There were plenty of times last night (and this season) where he showed great effort defensively. Yet, he still doesn't get the ball consistently offensively.

3.) If we're determining shots & touches based on defensive play, there are entire games where Kyrie should barely shoot the ball and plenty of stretches where LeBron shouldn't.

 

[crowned1]

Kevin Love reminds me of Brian Scalabrine at the moment.
View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGFqAJAvc1A

 

[Cavatt]

1.) This isn't the first game that he's been forgotten about offensively.

2.) There were plenty of times last night (and this season) where he showed great effort defensively. Yet, he still doesn't get the ball consistently offensively.

3.) If we're determining shots & touches based on defensive play, there are entire games where Kyrie should barely shoot the ball and plenty of stretches where LeBron shouldn't.

I pointed this or last time Andy had a crazy game. He was able to have that game because of the extreme ball denial on Love. They were going to let Andy beat them instead of Love. So that was a huge part of it.

I do agree with you that Kyrie is terrible at feeding the post. LeBron isn't a lot better. He had great assists last night almost all to Andy. Where was the Love pick and roll? I don't know.

Doesn't change the fact Diaw had a 20 pt 7 assist game. That is beyond the difference in the game, and every time I saw him score or assist I look and see Kevin with that stupid look on his face.

 

[CosmoKramer]

Comparing Kevin Love to Brian Scalabrine in any capacity is ban-worthy.

 

[Kizzle]

Kevin passes out of shots a lot but yeah he isn't fed enough. Idk if this is Blatts doing or if our guys simply don't care to get him involved but something has got to change


If I don't start seeing that jump hook at least 3 times a quarter ima flip my shit

 

[Cavatt]

Another thing is that as we have seen with Dion, Blatt goes away from his guys if they are not hitting their shots. He may actually be doing the same thing with Kevin.

 

[chuck0609]

LBJ has to realize that maybe KL isn't Chris Bosh, and has to learn how to play with KL, rather than the opposite.
This responsibility falls upon Blatt to make these pieces fit together. KI must also look and DEMAND that KL be given the ball in places where he can be most effective.
It always takes longest for a Big Man as he's dependent on others to facilitate. They've struggled for consistence with KL in the first ten games, I'd like to see them find a little more comfort for him in the next ten.

 

[CavsFTW]

As the games go by, the more I'm convinced that the majority of this isn't on Love at all.

He's simply not being put in positions to succeed & he gets forgotten about way too often, especially down the stretch.

Hell, I didn't even realize he was on the floor late in tonight's game.

They simply have to find a way to keep Love involved throughout the course of games, especially in the post.

I said it before the season, the Cavs need to worry more about getting Love to fit than Kyrie. Love's the one who can opt out at the end of the season. Love is the player the Cavs mortgaged their future to get. Blatt's doing his job as a coach trying to win games the only way he knows how, but he also needs to understand that keeping his stars happy is part of the job. Love's the second best player on this team, but Blatt has Love playing like a 3rd fiddle stretch four. Jeff Van Gumby suggested during last night's telecast that Love should be playing closer to the basket. It's become painfully obvious to everyone but Blatt.

 

[crowned1]

Another thing is that as we have seen with Dion, Blatt goes away from his guys if they are not hitting their shots. He may actually be doing the same thing with Kevin.

I doubt it, Coach doesn't have full control of the game, they will eventually do what ever they want. the only thing Blatt said during halftime is to feed Love on the post and they did it for a awhile and then they stopped.

 

[castor777]

LBJ has to realize that maybe KL isn't Chris Bosh, and has to learn how to play with KL, rather than the opposite.
This responsibility falls upon Blatt to make these pieces fit together. KI must also look and DEMAND that KL be given the ball in places where he can be most effective.
It always takes longest for a Big Man as he's dependent on others to facilitate. They've struggled for consistence with KL in the first ten games, I'd like to see them find a little more comfort for him in the next ten.

This is more along the lines of what I'm feeling. Kevin can sometimes get it going early in the first by playing up tempo and making defenses pay before they get set. But when we get into a half court offense, especially late in games, it seems Love is immediately given the Bosh role. There aren't any plays designed for him, he's found moving around the perimeter and he won't get the ball unless defenders close on LeBron or Kyrie as they drive into the lane. In theory, this should work to our benefit since Love is a good 3 point shooter and it should theoretically give LeBron and Kyrie more room to attack the paint. But it ultimately becomes redundant and is results in nothing more than hero ball.

You'd think Blatt's system would continue to see the ball move, a lot less dribbling, and finding the best shot. Instead it seems like LeBron or Kyrie will take it upon themselves to win the game, and everyone else should stand and watch. It's virtually identical the same issues that plagued the Heat early on, so it seems like we'll figure it out. But with Love being a free agent next year, I hope our teams continues to adopt Blatt's offense and doesn't become so stagnant when the games matter most. Patience will be key, and a much easier December should help iron things in the right direction I hope.

 

[CSF]

?

The guy was averaging 17 and 11 before tonight all while playing in a new system that isn't featuring him, playing decent defense, spacing the floor, and being incredibly scrappy and heady on the court.

This guy is no where near his comfort zone and is still better statistically than the majority of players in the NBA. It is blatantly obvious to anyone that watches basketball that we are still in the process of learning each other and that Love is basically just getting some numbers based off of effort.

As we hit game 35ish and our players begin to mesh and learn how to utilize love his efficiency will be far better.

Not difficult to average 17 pts on 13 attempts. And many of his rebounds come from boxing out either AV or TT, stat padding many call it. Do you even know what decent defense looks like? Incredibly scrappy he is not and besides that type of game is for players like AV.