Kevin Love reportedly suffered yet another injury in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ last game against the Dallas Mavericks.
Kevin Love just can’t catch a break when it comes to staying healthy this season. The Cleveland Cavaliers star big man reportedly has a lower back contusion, after going down hard in Cleveland’s last game, a narrow loss to the Dallas Mavericks, according to the Akron Beacon Journal’s Marla Ridenour (h/t a RotoWire Staff report).
As a result, Love, per Ridenour, is questionable for tonight’s game against the Detroit Pistons.
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This has to be tough news for Cavs head coach Larry Drew, because Love’s inside-out scoring presence has given Cleveland’s offense a completely different look since the All-Star break.
In 10 games in that stretch, Love has posted 19.9 points on 63.9 percent true shooting (including a 42.7 percent clip on three-pointers), 11.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, per NBA.com.
His offensive rating in that stretch of 116.4 and rebounding percentage of 52.6 both lead Cleveland, and he also has a solid plus-minus mark of plus-2.1, which is third on Cleveland, only trailing Matthew Dellavedova and Ante Zizic (again, per NBA.com).
As a side note, with it being the second night of a back-to-back and with Detroit amid an Eastern Conference playoff push, star big Blake Griffin, who has obliterated the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, is reportedly out due to rest, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
It would be tough for Cleveland to be competitive in this one with Love unable to go (even with Griffin out), as the Pistons have been a very difficult matchup for the Cavs this year.
Cleveland (according to a team report), already will not have Tristan Thompson (left foot soreness), Dellavedova (concussion protocol), and Larry Nance Jr. (rib contusion).
The last time Detroit played the Cavaliers, they destroyed them, 129-93, and the Pistons’ Luke Kennard was on fire with 26 points in 22 minutes, including a scorching six-of-7 from three, per ESPN.
This kind of injury, even with it being just a bruise for Love, seems to be one that could lead Cleveland to sit him for a few games, with the Cavaliers wanting Love to be healthier heading into the offseason, and the team still currently with a top-three 2019 NBA Draft pick (per Tankathon).
That would, under new lottery rules, ensure Cleveland still has the highest possible chance of landing this year’s number one pick, which is a 14.0 percent chance, per Tankathon.
Or the Cavs could continue to build the chemistry between Love, Collin Sexton, Cedi Osman, and others in the last part of the season if the organization wants to go that route. Granted, Cleveland does still have the fourth-toughest strength of schedule the rest of the way, anyhow (again, according to Tankathon).