The Cleveland Cavaliers will reportedly be without Kevin Love today against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers have an afternoon game against the Los Angeles Clippers today on the road, in what should be a fun matchup. Cleveland lost their last meeting against L..A. last Friday 110-108, in what was a tightly-matched contest.
Today’s game could have a drastically different outcome, though, because according to The Athletic’s Joe Vardon, the Cavs ruled out star big Kevin Love due to left shoulder soreness.
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Love has played up and down this month, as he’s scored 16.6 points per game on 47.6 percent effective field goal shooting, but has averaged 11.6 rebounds, per NBA.com. Although there’s been some rough games here and there for him, his presence on the floor has provided other key pieces with more room to operate, though.
His chemistry with Collin Sexton (who’s been killing it post-All-Star break and should be on the All-Rookie First Team according to Love and Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Larry Drew) and Cedi Osman, two of Cleveland’s key pieces for the coming years, appears to be getting better and better.
Nonetheless, Cleveland not having Love today against the Clippers is nothing new for Sexton, Osman and others, considering Love has only been active in 21 of the Cavs’ 76 games this year due to a combination of injuries (most notably reported toe surgery), according to NBA.com.
That means the 22-year-old Ante Zizic should have a bit more usage via post-ups with Love sidelined, and I would imagine he and Larry Nance Jr. will run some 4/5 pick-and-roll, too.
Post-All-Star break, Zizic has continued to show signs of improvement, as he’s averaged 9.8 points on 57.8 percent shooting, to go with 6.5 rebounds in 25.4 minutes per game in 12 appearances out of 18 possible contests.
Just like we touched on before the last meeting with the Clips, a matchup between two of the NBA’s best bench scorers in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Jordan Clarkson and the Clips’ Lou Williams will be very meaningful in this game as well.
Clarkson (16.9 points per game) is third in the NBA among regular bench scorers, and Williams (20.3 points per game) is the top bench scorer in the Association, per NBA.com.
Clarkson, along with Sexton and Osman, will have to have big games to keep the Cavs competitive in this one on the road with Cleveland’s best player sidelined today.