Cavs: Three areas of focus for Kevin Love in upcoming games
By Dan Gilinsky
Focus area #1 for Love: Being more assertive
It’s not as if Love hasn’t been doing anything in recent games. I’d still like him to be more assertive in upcoming games as the Cavs’ best player, though.
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Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor also hit on that in a recent article about how the Cavs had success when Love was the clear focal point earlier on in the season recently.
On the season, Love still has a solid average of 16.1 points per game, which is second on Cleveland, behind Collin Sexton, as indicated by NBA.com. Love’s also leading the Cavs in three-pointers made per contest, and hitting 37.1% of those attempts.
In the Cavs’ last 10 games, of which Love’s been active for only six due to a reported lower back contusion and him being out due to sickness versus Orlando, Love’s only had 12.0 points per game.
Plus, Love is only getting 1.8 free throw attempts per contest in that stretch, which is just fifth on Cleveland, according to NBA.com.
That is simply not enough, and Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein needs his best player to assert himself more deeper in the post, and get to the charity stripe more frequently in upcoming games.
More near Love’s season average of 4.7 free throw attempts per game, of which he’s hitting 88.2% of those, is what I’m sure the Cavs are looking for in coming games.
That would take pressure off of young pieces such as Darius Garland, Sexton, Cedi Osman, and others, and ball-swings could open up if Love is being more productive with mid and low-post touches.
Hopefully in Cleveland’s matchup at the Boston Celtics on Monday, we’ll see Love trying to put his imprint on the game more.