Cavs: Revisiting Kevin Love’s three best games of 2019-2020 thus far
By Zane Harris
#3: January 7 vs. Detroit
Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, this matchup with the Pistons occurred before the trade for Andre Drummond happened near the 2020 deadline and he was the force that changed the game for the Pistons. That was even without Blake Griffin in there, who is seemingly still likely to miss the rest of this season (if it resumes) due to a knee injury.
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Drummond finished the game with 23 points and 20 rebounds, to go with five assists, two blocks and a steal, as shown by ESPN.
However, Love was the main reason the Cavaliers even stood a chance in the game. He could not be stopped on the offensive end, scoring a remarkable 30 points. Going back to how efficient he has been this season, this game was a prime example.
Love only missed three of his fifteen shot attempts in this game, and he shot four-for-six from three-point range and eight-for-nine inside the arc. One thing that is somewhat rare with so many young players on the team is consistency and efficiency.
Plus, in this matchup even with Drummond being the rebounding monster he is, Love still managed to pull down nine rebounds.
He tied with Tristan Thompson for leading the Cavaliers in assists with each player having four each as well, per ESPN. This was key during this game for Love to step up when it came to playmaking as a result of starting guards Collin Sexton and Darius Garland only having five assists combined.
Defensively as far as key impact statistics, Love did not have a block, but had one steal, and while the rotations for Cleveland down the stretch weren’t as crisp as earlier on, I do Love credit again for his defensive rebounding efforts.
At any rate, accounting for the toll that carrying the offense likely had on him, it is understandable if Love did take possessions off here or there defensively. He again was the reason the Cavs were in great position to win this game, too, but ultimately fell 115-113.
The next best game I believe of Love’s season thus far has been on December 27 against Boston.