After the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday, LeBron James alluded to the lack of effort from teammate Kevin Love as part of the reason for their slow start.
Although he didn’t mention any player by name, it would seem like the face of the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise, LeBron James, called out teammate Kevin Love’s effort at the start of the game.
"“The energy and effort from everybody – you know, you don’t want to single anybody out – but everybody has to step up their play for us to be as good as we would like to be.”"
While James didn’t call him out by name but get this: there was no other player in the rotation whose effort you could question; Love would leave the game in the third quarter, ripping his jersey on the way, after head coach Tyronn Lue got after him in a huddle (Lue reported that he had an unspecified illness); and before Love left the game with 4 points, 4 rebounds and 4 fouls in 18 minutes, he was getting abused in the pick-and-roll and constantly failing to run out to contest three-point shots.
Take this play for instance. Rather than running out to cover Taurean Prince, who is shooting 47.7 percent from three this season and is certainly a three-point threat on the scouting report, Love lets Prince get off an uncontested three. Though Jae Crowder was Prince’s original man, Crowder had to run through two screens to get through to Prince. Love only had to step forward and let Crowder guard his man.
Here, as Rose gets caught on a screen from John Collins, Love backs away from Dennis Schroder in the midrange instead of stepping forward to constrict his air space. Even if he was concerned about protecting the rim, Love had both James and J.R. Smith in the lane to help. Instead, Love plays off and Schroder gets an open jumper.
Plays like this are, frankly, commonplace for the Love and the Cavs. It’s unfortunate because Love can play with effort – and when he does the Cavs are that much harder to beat – but it waxes and wanes more than you’d expect from the team’s second-in-command. Love’s dismal defense played a major role in the Hawks scoring at will and putting up 37 points on the Cavs in the first quarter.
In addition, Love has only averaged 5.5 field goal attempts and 1.5 field goal conversions in his past two games. He doesn’t even put forth the energy you’d like on the offensive end – his specialty.
After the Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday evening, the atmosphere was as sombre as you might expect. The Cavs, who have went to the NBA Finals for the last three seasons, have fallen to a 4-6 record after losing to (what’s now) a 2-8 team. This marks their sixth loss against opponents they should have beaten, with their other losses coming to the Orlando Magic, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, New Orleans Pelicans and Indiana Pacers.
It’s understandable to drop a game here and there that should have been won, especially over the course of an 82-game season. However, while the Cleveland Cavaliers have consistently been on the losing end because of injuries and a lack of familiarity with one another, there’s another big issue. Love.
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Love is averaging 16.2 points, 10.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. However, he’s only making 40.2 percent of his shots from the field (ranked 8th on the team out of players who average at least 10.0 minutes per game). How is that number so low? He’s making 23.1 percent of his shots 3-10 feet away from the rim, 33.3 percent of his shots 10-16 feet away from the rim and 20.0 percent of his shots 16-24 feet away from the rim. Those shots account for 38.2 percent of his offense and he’s been a terrible shooter in-between the rim and the three-point line.
In addition, he’s shooting 34.6 percent from three-point range (after shooting no lower than 36.0 percent from three in any season since joining the Cavs). It’s not like he’s shooting heavily contested jumpers either, so this is likely all a mental issue, like Smith’s. However, it’s an issue. Without a player of Kyrie Irving or Isaiah Thomas’ caliber on the court with him, Love should be averaging at least 20.0 points per game with ease (he averaged 17.0 points per game in his Cavs career prior to this season).
He should also, at the least, play with max-effort when he’s on the court. Even if he’s subbed out early because he’s tired himself out, the Cavs will be better off for it because their interior and three-point defense will improve. That’s something Love himself knows.
Their offense may improve as well, as he should be taking at least as many shots as Rose, which isn’t the case right now.
The Cavs currently have the league’s worst defensive team. Their defensive rating is 114.5 (worst in the league) and they’re giving up 113.4 points per game (28th in the league).
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*All stats gathered from www.basketball-reference.com
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