The Cleveland Cavaliers are in turmoil and now the finger-pointing has begun and several players are reportedly upset with Kevin Love.
Things aren’t going swimmingly for the Cleveland Cavaliers who hold a one-game lead over the Miami Heat for the third spot in the Eastern Conference. LeBron James and the Cavs have lost six of their last eight games and were blown out by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday, allowing 148 points in the 24-point loss.
It was that loss that served as the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back because tensions were high afterward and fingers were being pointed at Kevin Love for all of their woes. Love left Saturday’s loss with an illness and kept him out of Sunday’s practice.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojanarowski, Love’s exit on Saturday and missed practice was the subject of ire for Cavaliers players who held a passionate and emotional meeting before practice on Monday.
Wojnarowski reports several of Love’s teammates questioned whether Love was seriously sick enough to warrant not playing in the loss. With plenty of players, coaches and the front office to blame for the Cavaliers struggles so far this season, the focus turned to Love, which seems totally unfair, but tensions calmed after Love stood up for himself and explained himself.
The Cleveland Cavaliers held an emotional team meeting prior to Monday’s practice, where several players challenged the legitimacy of Kevin Love leaving OKC loss on Saturday ill and missing Sunday’s practice, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 23, 2018
In a locker room increasingly full of finger-pointing, Love defended himself and explained his side to teammates, coaches and management, sources said. At end of meeting, there was a sense with some that team had worked out some issues, but that ultimately remains to be seen.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 23, 2018
Wojnarowski says the team has calmed down after working out some issues but it remains to be seen how long that sticks or until the next soap opera pops up in Cleveland. There always seems to be acrimony, dissention and finger-pointing when a team is underachieving, and that’s certainly what’s happened to the Cavs so far.
Let’s check in with the Cavs in a month or so and see how things are going, because things are bound to get better, right? It’s only a matter of time until LeBron gets everyone on the same page, right? He’s just got to flip the switch and everything will go back to normal and Cleveland will rock again, right?
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Love is not the problem plaguing the Cavs and once the other players on the roster realize that when they point their finger at Love they are pointing three at them and a thumb up at God, they’ll be better off and then they can see if they can challenge the Boston Celtics for the right to inevitably lose to the Golden State Warriors.