NBA Finals: Kevin Love may be finished with Cavaliers
By Tom West
The Cavaliers can make the right move by benching Kevin Love in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, which may begin his last chapter in Cleveland.
Game 3 of the Finals meant a lot for the Cleveland Cavaliers and their fans. They returned home, where they still haven’t lost in the 2016 NBA playoffs, with a desperate chance to right so many wrongs that had cost them the first two games. Their offense had shot a mere 36.8 percent over the first two games, Kyrie Irving was dominating the ball with far too much isolation play, they lacked the energy that should be innate in a Finals series, and their defense was doing nothing to stop the Golden State Warriors, despite the shortcomings of the Splash Brothers.
Essentially, after losing by a combined total of 48 points over Games 1 and 2, the Cavaliers had done nothing to indicate that the 2016 Finals would be captivating, let alone competitive.
Until Game 3… kind of.
Even though their 120-90 win came at home in Cleveland and nothing should be too much of a shock until a team wins on the road, the Cavs still put together a performance that no one was expecting. In true 2016 Playoff fashion, it kept the blowout nature of these Finals alive.
The Cavs went smaller, they went faster, their defensive effort rose, Tristan Thompson dominated the boards, and LeBron James looked more LeBron-like at the four, actually making some jumpers and tallying 32 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
This this success without a concussed Kevin Love (albeit for only one night so far), it’s only inevitable that questions are asked about what lies in his future and whether it will take him away from Cleveland.
Love will now likely face his first game coming off the bench in six years — as if the Cavs bouncing back in Game 3 without him wasn’t enough. While Love does have another medical procedure to confirm that he’s fine to play based on the league’s concussion protocol, he’s still expected to be available, but in a totally different role, as Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal has reported:
"Kevin Love is expected to play Friday and it’s likely he will come off the bench in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, league sources told the Beacon Journal…Coach Tyronn Lue would not discuss Love’s role on Thursday, insisting he hadn’t given it much thought. While one source stressed no final decision has been made yet, it’s likely at this point Love will be a reserve for the first time since April 14, 2010 – the final game of his second year in the league"
Lue won’t move Love to the bench out of spite or to begin some process of him being traded. As was apparent before the series started and as Game 3 confirmed, the Warriors are a dreadful matchup for Love and the Cavs can’t rely on him.
Golden State has more fluidity, pace, and small-ball ability than perhaps any team in NBA history. Their tireless switches on defense and versatile speed are the very opposite of what Kevin Love brings to the table, and they’ve kicked him off his chair and taken all his dimes. Yes, he had 17 points and 13 rebounds in Game 1 and he has value in those regards, but his defense makes him far too damaging.
LeBron would need to rise to hyper-superhuman levels to overcome lackluster defensive effort from Kyrie Irving (who improved a lot in Game 3) and the liability of Love, and the Cavs can’t hope to win that way. Love can’t be relied upon as a rim protecting five, he doesn’t have the quickness to switch to the perimeter, and he can be attacked and abused far too easily by the Warriors’ pick-and-rolls.
The Cavs holding the Warriors to 42.1 percent shooting in Game 3 with Love out of the game was no coincidence.
It’s not like Love is moving to the bench to rid him of impact altogether, though. The Cavs’ second unit needs help scoring and having Love as a go-to option takes less strain off LeBron to take care of the bench and create buckets that would hardly happen otherwise. As a spot-up option from deep and a post threat when given the chance, Love is still an elite offensive player, even if it’s easy to forget amidst the popular criticism.
In fact, Lloyd added in his report that Cavaliers executives have been pondering Love’s eventual move to the bench for quite some time:
"The Cavs have privately been concerned for months how Love would match up defensively in a Finals rematch against the Warriors, with one team executive offering during the regular season that Love may have to become the Cavs’ version of David Lee – the high-priced, high-scoring forward who came off the bench last year to help spark the Warriors to a championship."
The Cavs won’t be saved by an upgraded version of David Lee, though, and a little less Love can only go so far.
It can help their smaller starting five that worked far better defensively, giving the impression that with effort and pace they can actually compete against the Warriors. Nevertheless, it was only one game and they’ll be back in Oracle Arena by Monday night. Even if they maintain this performance and win Game 4, the chance of them dropping two straight on the road is a possibility that can’t be overlooked.
There’s more to this Finals series than how many games the Cavs survive for. They still don’t deserve to be favored to win, and if they lose, blame will immediately be thrown towards Love. He’s looked like the odd man out on offense for most of the season, experiencing frequent drops in production and importance, with predictions of his inevitable defensive weakness in the Finals being shared for months.
Now, we’re simply witnessing that materialize, and a likely move to the bench only accelerates his decline as a vital part of the team.
As the rest of this series should continue to reveal, the starters are better off without him against such competition and acquiring an elite wing or multiple role players in return would go a long way to forming a Cavs team that is designed to defeat the Warriors — their destined Finals partners for possibly years to come.
They don’t want a David Lee and that’s not what Kevin Love wants to become. If the Cavs proceed to lose the Finals, it might make sense for both parties to move on.
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