LeBron James Praises Kevin Love For Sitting Bench With Good Attitude
By Hayden Kane
LeBron James praised superstar teammate Kevin Love for an unselfish attitude when the power forward was benched for the crunch-time minutes of a Cleveland Cavaliers‘ victory over the Orlando Magic this weekend as part of a busy NBA schedule.
Matthew Dellavedova. Tristan Thompson. Mike Miller. Those were LeBron James’ running mates for the final minutes of a tight Eastern Conference match-up with the Orlando Magic.
More from Cleveland Cavaliers
- NBA insider: Cavaliers should consider trading Donovan Mitchell
- Predicting NBA’s Christmas Day Schedule: Lakers, Warriors highlight slate of postseason rematches
- NBA Rumors: 3 teams that should trade for Joel Embiid
- NBA rumors: How Donovan Mitchell could wind up on the trading block
- The new NBA flopping rules explained
For James on this night, the new Cavaliers must have felt an awful lot like the old Cavaliers.
The whole point of joining Cleveland was to pair up with different star players, right? This was only one game, of course, but it was still an odd visual at the end of the game as Kyrie Irving sat with a knee injury and Kevin Love sat in favor of a more effective lineup.
In the case of Love, LeBron James had glowing praise for his teammate’s attitude after the game. From ESPN.com:
"“Tonight we took a step forward. With Kevin Love’s sacrifice in the fourth quarter, he didn’t play and was helping, cheering, slapping hands, every time we came to the sideline, we took a step forward in that. And I hope everyone seen that. I hope everyone saw it. You know I did, I saw it.”"
That won’t stop some people from reading into the fact that Love wasn’t playing crunch-time minutes, however.
Kevin Love's future is officially getting interesting. Not playing in 4th Q in Orlando??? That's it, I'm cuing up the Trade Machine.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) December 27, 2014
Love finished the game with 22 points and seven rebounds. James carried the Cavaliers to victory thanks to 29 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. The Cavaliers are now 18-11 on the season.
More from FanSided
- NFL rumors: Aaron Rodgers sets Jets up for Super Bowl run with new contract
- MLB Trade Grades: Dodgers land Amed Rosario from Guardians
- Colorado gives Pac-12 a possible death knell with move to Big 12
- NFL rumors: Dalvin Cook suitor maintaining very ‘real’ interest
- Braves get dose of bad news on Max Fried as ace nears return