With 1:05 left in the first quarter of the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ 123-106 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, Kevin Love set a screen for Ricky Rubio on the left wing.
After a Darius Garland UCLA cut on the other side and a Karl-Anthony Towns/Malik Beasley blitz on Rubio, Love popped for an easy pass and the first of his three 3-pointers in the game. It would form part of an 18-point, 13-rebound performance in 23 minutes.
If you squinted hard enough (or are just a perpetually-tormented Wolves fan), you may have been transported back to a Minnesota basketball era of excitement and expectation. Despite significant injuries in their first two seasons together, Love and Rubio would lead a young and improving Timberwolves team to a 40-42 record in 2014 amongst the thickets of a Western Conference so dominant that even the 48-34 Phoenix Suns missed out on the playoffs.
The duo would come to an end after Love was traded that offseason however and while Rubio has gone on to play for three more teams (including a return to Minnesota last season), Love has remained a Cavalier since joining LeBron James in his 2014 Cleveland homecoming.
Love, who has mostly struggled since signing a four-year, $120 million extension in 2018 (and James’ departure), appears to be re-engaged this season in a bench role. In 19 games, he is averaging 11.4 points and 7.3 rebounds in 20 minutes per game while shooting 38 percent from three. Per NBA.com, the Cavaliers are plus-5.3 with Love on the floor while sporting their fastest pace and highest rebound percentage (includes players with 100 or more minutes of action this season).
Since losing five straight in late November, Love’s performance against the Wolves helped the Cavaliers punctuate a 6-2 response in their last eight games following that, prior to Saturday’s W over the Sacramento Kings, but the Friday game had me thinking.
Was Love’s performance against his old team part of the momentum of this Cavalier team or was there some good, old fashioned revenge involved? After all, Love’s time with the Wolves wasn’t perfect – issues with benchings, teammates, contract negotiations and the front office didn’t exactly endear him to a franchise starved of success.
The only way to discover any elements of revenge would be to go back and look at all of Love’s games against the Timberwolves since 2014-15. While I was there, I wanted to see how Friday’s effort ranked in comparison. In an attempt to answer these questions I decided on testing each game against a metric called “Game Score.” Developed by John Hollinger, a former NBA executive and now a writer for The Athletic, Game Score attempts to encapsulate a player’s overall performance in a single game based on box score data. You can find further detail here but below is the formula:
PTS + 0.4 * FG – 0.7 * FGA – 0.4*(FTA – FT) + 0.7 * ORB + 0.3 * DRB + STL + 0.7 * AST + 0.7 * BLK – 0.4 * PF – TOV
In short: efficient scoring, rebounds, steals, assists and blocks are good; fouls, turnovers and missed shots are bad. A quick aside and shameless plug – I also used Game Score to rank the best Cavs rookie debuts of all time which you can read here.
With all of that out of the way, let’s get to it! Kevin Love’s seven performances against his former team ranked!
* Through Friday’s games
#7: Jan. 8, 2018 – Minnesota 127, Cleveland 99
Love’s Game Score: -0.5
Love’s only game against the Timberwolves in 2017/2018 showed little signs of revenge. In 21 minutes, he registered 3 points and 2 rebounds on 1-of-7 shooting. Love’s -30 on the floor wasn’t a surprise given the 28-point loss to a Wolves team that would go on to make the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.
#6: Jan. 25, 2016 – Cleveland 114, Minnesota 107
Love’s Game Score: 8.3
The Cavaliers would get revenge on the entire league in 2016 but not before holding off rookie Karl-Anthony Towns and his 26 point-11 rebound-4 assist performance in Cleveland. Love struggled shooting the ball (1-of-7 from three) but did enough to match his +10 with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
#5: Jan. 31, 2015 – Cleveland 106, Minnesota 90
Love’s Game Score: 12.6
Love’s first game back in Minnesota was overshadowed by an apparent LeBron revenge game (36 points), however, Love was productive too. Posting 14 points and 17 rebounds (6 offensive), Love may have had some nerves being back in Minneapolis – he went 1-of-4 from the free throw line.
#4: Dec. 23, 2014 – Cleveland 125, Minnesota 104
Love’s Game Score: 17.7
Love’s first official game against his former team was a dominant one. Despite 27 points from the main piece he was traded for – Andrew Wiggins, Love recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds in 36 minutes, including 9-of-11 from the free throw line. Cleveland’s “Big 3” of James, Love and Kyrie Irving showed off their offensive potential, combining for 73 points in the 21-point victory.
#3: Dec. 10, 2021 – Cleveland 123, Minnesota 106
Love’s Game Score: 19.0
It may not be at the top of this list, but given Love’s production on Friday came in only 23 minutes, it’s certainly just as impressive. While any vengence is open for debate, the main story was this Cavalier team and their season so far. Love’s rejuvenation and buy-in to his role so far has been a welcome sub-story.
#2: Jan. 8, 2016 – Cleveland 123, Minnesota 106
Love’s Game Score: 19.7
Despite his reduced offensive role as a Cavalier, Love found ways to impact this game as Cleveland roared towards their first title in franchise history. Posting 20 points (9-of-11 on free throws), 9 rebounds and 4 assists, the Cavs once again held off the vengeful (?) Andrew Wiggins and his 35 points.
#1: Oct. 19, 2018 – Minnesota 131, Cleveland 123
Love’s Game Score: 19.7
Just two games into the 2018-2019 season, Love’s highest-ranked game against his old team came in a loss. Posting 25 points, 17 rebounds and 7 assists, Love also went to work at the free throw line (10-of-10). Any revenge he had in mind was countered by the performance of Jimmy Butler (33 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks). Butler may have had his own ulterior motives in this game – he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers just three weeks later.
So what’s the verdict then? Is there proof of Kevin Love revenge against his former team of six seasons?
Comparing Love’s numbers against the Wolves compared to his overall Cleveland career, Love’s shooting (37 percent vs 43 percent ) and scoring (15.9 versus 16.5) are down however rebounding (10.9 versus 9.7) , free throw attempts (6.3 versus 4.1) and assists (3.4 versus 2.3) are all up. Those areas infer hustle, effort and intention, so it’s a yes from me!
These teams meet again on Feb. 28 in Cleveland. Get ready for that side pick-and-roll action again.