Kevin Love will be tested against the Hawks
By Jared Kungle
With the Cleveland Cavaliers set to face off against the Atlanta Hawks in the second round of the playoffs, will Kevin Love be able to carry over his success from the first round?
During their first round sweep of the Detroit Pistons, the Cavaliers had the luxury of a red-hot Kevin Love, who averaged 18.8 points and 12 rebounds during the series.
Love particularly strived when he was moved to the center position, where he was able to exploit Andre Drummond. With Drummond oftentimes being late closing out on the pick-and-pop, Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy, rather than removing Drummond from the game while Love was at center, assigned him to guard Iman Shumpert, who, despite not being an offensive threat, kept the all-star on the perimeter.
Unfortunately for the Cavs heading into the second round, the Hawks do not have a center who can be easily exposed as Drummond was, as Tiago Sliptter, their only “true” center is out with a hip injury. Both Paul Millsap and Al Horford are versatile defenders who can guard Love out on the perimeter.
“He’s pretty much playing the five now because he’s guarding Horford,” Tyronn Lue said of Love via cleveland.com. “So, he’s playing the five now. But as far as with Tristan [Thompson] off the floor and ‘Bron [James] playing, it could happen. We definitely play well that way and something we’re going to use. Just have to see how it goes.”
Offensive concerns aside, Love’s biggest concern will be his defensive production. Against the Pistons, the defensively-challenged Love allowed Marcus Morris to average 17.8 points on 46 percent from the field.
Thanks to the Cavs ability to put points on the board, Love’s defense, or lack thereof, did not put the team at risk. However, the Hawks will be a completely different story.
During the regular season, the Hawks ranked fifth in the association in points per game, averaging 100 points per contest, which is right behind the Cavaliers mark of 103; they also ranked fifth in opponents points per game, holding the opposing team to 94 points per game.
Perhaps the scariest thing for the Cavs is the fact that Millsap had a 48 point explosion against the Celtics in game four of the first round. The all-star averaged 17.3 points against the Cavs during the regular season.
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Rebounding is one area Love is poised to strive in against Atlanta. As a team, the Hawks ranked bottom-10 in the league when it came to rebounding during the regular season. Luckily for the Cavs, Love is one of the better rebounders the league has to offer, as he averaged 12 rebounds in the Detroit series and 10 during the regular season.
There is no doubt that Love will have open opportunities on offense, but they will be few and far between compared to what he saw against the Pistons. And when they do come, he better be able to capitalize. Overall, the 27-year-old power forward will be put to the test in the second round matchup against Atlanta. Things won’t seem to come as easily as they did against Detroit, that’s for sure.
Do you think Kevin Love will be able to hold his own against Atlanta?