One stud and one dud in Cavs win over OKC on Saturday

Cavs dud: Kevin Love

Kevin Love has really excelled in his bench role this year, but this was an off game for him, much like most of the team. For the game in 23 minutes he had 6 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists, while shooting 0-of-3 from three, 1-of-4 from the field and surprisingly missed 3 free throws.

In fairness most of the Cavaliers team really struggled from the free throw line and left a lot of points there. Again Love has thrived as a veteran off the bench this year and is one of the reasons why the Cavs are a surprising 5th seed in the East in his own right, too.

For the season, Love is averaging 13.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists, while shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 39.7 from three. This is coming off a December in which he was on fire, averaging 17.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists, while shooting 49.1 from three and 49.1 percent from the field overall.

As we alluded to, Love has been a big part of the Cavs success and has gone from talked about as a  mentioned trade piece, to a valuable piece on this team Cleveland likely wants to keep around it seems.

This was certainly one of Kevin Love’s off games this year against OKC, though. He could never get in any real rhythm on Saturday night, and you typically don’t see him miss free throws, as he’s one of the most reliable free throw shooters.

Love has cooled off a bit since his red-hot December, although I’d link some of that to the Ricky Rubio injury and Garland missing games earlier. I’d bet he’ll pick up closer to where he left off in December when Rajon Rondo gets back and he’s playing with more veteran ball handlers.

Up next the Cavs will try to get to 10 games over the .500 mark as they host the New York Knicks on Monday.