Kevin Love has earned his rightful role as the second option in the Cleveland Cavaliers offense as he fuels The Land to a sustained success
There was a pivotal moment in the early days of the 2014-15 playoffs that altered the landscape of the NBA championship picture.
The top seeded Cleveland Cavaliers were unceremoniously decimating any chance the eighth seeded Boston Celtics had to advance past the first round. As Game 4 of the Eastern Conference first round playoffs was raging, Boston Celtics forward Kelly Olynyk could be seen mangling Kevin Love’s arm, leaving the big man writhing in pain with a dislocated shoulder. Olynyk’s dubious play on Love’s shoulder echoed the Celtics hard-nosed refusal to get swept, he just could not seem to let go.
According to Boston.com, Love did not mince words regarding the serious injury.
"“I mean I was out there and Olynyk was in a compromising position and had no chance to get the ball. It’s just too bad he would go to those lengths to take someone out of a game and do it to someone. I have no doubt in my mind he did it on purpose.”"
Because of Love and Olynyk’s post-rebounding entanglement, Love would be out for the entirety of the playoffs and the beginning of this year’s season. Many questioned if his silk-like shooting motion would be ruined. Others argued that the fact that Cleveland made it all the way to the NBA finals without Love on the floor meant that he was an unnecessary stat stuffing defensive sieve.
If we can accept the fact that Love will never be a defensive stopper, much of the negative speculation has been proven wrong by K. Love himself in these first few months of regular season play. The Cleveland Cavaliers find themselves atop the Eastern Conference, and there is no doubt they are loving the feeling of having their powerhouse big man back in action.
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With star point guard Kyrie Irving injured being injured until recently and not much other offensive creators outside of LeBron, he has averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds, while sporting a true shooting percentage of 55%, a hearty 4% higher than the highly coveted San Antonio Spur, Lamarcus Aldridge. His bread and butter post up game is better than ever, averaging an eye popping 1.1 points per possession.
Moving past the numbers, Love opens up the floor like no other big man on the roster. Tristan Thompson is offensively anemic and Anderson Varejao is a walking 10 million dollar injury time bomb, just waiting to go off. Love’s unique passing, shooting, and rebounding ability allows Lebron and the rest of the team to relentlessly and efficiently attack the basket, knowing that one of the opposing team’s big men will be forced to close out on the stretched out Love.
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Kevin Love is needed to fuel the Cleveland basketball machine.
Make no mistake, the Western Conference will again be a bloodbath between the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Golden State Warriors, and the San Antonio Spurs. Without Lebron, Kyrie Irving, or their super stretch power forward, Kevin Love, the Cleveland Cavaliers do not stand a chance.