NBA Finals: Why Cavaliers can win Game 3 without Kevin Love
By Tom West
None of Kevin Love’s woeful defense
Taking away one of the Cavs’ Big 3 may appear to be a major problem. Any NBA team that loses one of its best players is going to suffer in one way or another. Yet, for this Cavs team against the overwhelming Warriors, a little less Love may not be that bad.
In fact, when it comes to defense, which is where Cleveland has seriously been falling short, no Love seriously helps.
For as long as we’ve been watching Love, he’s been known as a blindingly bad defender. With every of his many rebounds comes a slow switch on a pick-and-roll, a hopeless ‘leap’ to block a shot, or a failed attempt to cover the perimeter.
If there’s a team that can show up his defensive weaknesses more than any other, it’s these Warriors without question.
Whether it’s the deadly Stephen Curry-Draymond Green high pick-and-roll or any other fast sharpshooting duo, the Warriors have been killing Love and Kyrie Irving with such plays. When neither player can effectively cover the roller or the ball handler, the problems quickly overflow. And seeing as Love can’t keep up with the Warriors’ dynamic options at power forward when he’s forced to defend the perimeter or fails to rotate quickly enough against them to be a rim protecting center, he’s a major liability.
For Cavs fans everywhere, they can’t help but emulate a frustrated LeBron when they see the Warriors tear through their defense and the typical culprits.
In Love’s absence, the Cavs gain the immediate advantage of Love simply being absent. That alone is a defensive plus. The pressure now switches to Tyronn Lue, though, to make the correct rotational adjustments to improve the team’s defense. Because up until this point, their undisputed best player and top defender, LeBron, has had some major shortcomings with his intensity and positioning as well.
Channing Frye — not a great defender but more agile and reliable than Love — will receive more minutes and LeBron will surely see more time at power forward, too. Both these two will be better options to switch to the perimeter and cover pick-and-rolls than Love.
Maybe even Timofey Mozgov will receive more of a role if Lue looks to go bigger, accepting that his small-ball lineups simply cannot keep up with those of the Warriors.
However they adjust, there’s potential for the Cavs to improve defensively if everyone can play as an intense unit. As is always the case, though, LeBron will take the brunt of the pressure in the absence of Love.
Next: Home court advantage