Wednesday night, Kevin Love continued his amazing resurgence this season as he came off the bench, dropping 25 points, including 14 points in an early first-half stretch. His play helped spark his young-yet-talented Cleveland Cavaliers bunch of teammates in another significant win on the season as they defeated the defending NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks 115-99 down at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
While the points were big in the first-half turnaround, where the Cavs were down at one point by 11 points, it was a charge he took defending Bucks big man Giannis Antetokounmpo that helped get the ball rolling and changed the game’s entire trajectory. Cleveland was struggling early but started to scrap their way back and after Love took that charge the Cavs finished going on a 33-20 run to build a 65-57 halftime lead.
That type of play has been common for Love all season long. If he’s not taking a charge on defense, he’s knocking down a three-pointer from beyond the arc. It’s this type of energy that is fueling this team and making them the best show in town. Cleveland stands in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with a 30-19 record on the season.
Kevin Love was brilliant again in Wednesday’s win over the Bucks, a trend for the veteran forward having his best season in years
Love finished the night going five-for-nine from the three-point range and 9-for-16 overall from the floor. He also recorded nine rebounds, dished out three assists, and forced two steals. He’s been having those types of stat lines all season long. There were several other huge performances by other Cavaliers on the night, including Cedi Osman, who also came off the bench, played 34 minutes, and knocked down 23 points in a scintillating output. Six Cleveland players finished with double figures on the night! That type of team effort gets the job done for this group.
Love has earned the nickname, “Uncle Kev” or some prefer “Grandpa Kev” recently because he’s the oldest player on the team, but that’s all the more reason to see how that experience and “elder-like” aura of Love is providing the necessary drive by the younger players. They’ve listened to their elder and are winning, in part, because of it.
“It’s Grandpa Kev, not Uncle Kev”- How it began in Cleveland
When the Cleveland Cavaliers originally brought Kevin Love to the organization it was adding one more piece to the Cavs’ puzzle towards the goal of winning an NBA title alongside then Cavaliers Lebron James and Kyrie Irving. The year was 2014 and Love had been the centerpiece of the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was a talented kid coming out of UCLA as a power forward that could hit the outside shot and yet gobble up rebounds too. The Cavs traded away Andrew Wiggins at the time, who was their first-round pick that same summer.
With the three stars aligned in James, Irving, and Love the Wine and Gold challenged for the title for several years and claimed the prize in 2016. Along the way, Love continued to sign new contracts with the team and is now in the middle of a huge deal that pays him north of $31 million a season.
During this time the Cavs have also struggled horribly after James and Irving bolted for the big cities of New York and Los Angeles. Love has struggled over that same time with injuries and a psyche that was being challenged daily. The team wasn’t winning. He was being asked to be the new leader of a very young team and he simply seemed out of sync these last three seasons.
But all of a sudden and in the blink of an eye, the Cavaliers have been reborn with a new group of very young but talented kids, and Love is at the front of the line leading by example every day. It’s been such a dramatic turnaround for both the team and Love personally that it should become a Hollywood-made movie someday.
When you start reviewing Love’s career by the books, this may not be his best year statistically in terms of biggest numbers, but it is, in terms of his efficient production and what is helping this team accomplish by his leadership.
Let’s look a bit more at Love’s numbers and also chat more about the leadership quality that is so important this season.
By the numbers
Recently, Statmuse.com shared a stat that Kevin Love’s scoring average was at 23.7 points per 36 minutes played, being his third-highest level in his career. The last year he had such a high mark was his last season with the Minnesota Timberwolves back during the 2013-14 season. He’s played 14 years in the league, and his career average in points is 17.8 a season. This year he’s averaging 14.2. His rebounding this season is his best season in the last four when you look at the “per 36 minutes” played. He’s averaging 12.1 boards.
His minutes played are the lowest of his career at 21 minutes a contest, but what he’s doing in that time can’t be undervalued. Like in this past game against the Bucks the ability to take a charge on defense and then turn around and knock down three-point shots in spurts to ignite the team is priceless. He’s been relatively healthy as well this season as he’s already played in 41 games. Last season he only managed to compete in 25 games. He hasn’t played consistently in a regular season since the Cavs’ last championship season in 2016 when he played in 77 games.
He’s shooting the three-point shot better too. He’s hitting 41 % for the season. He hasn’t been that solid percentage-wise since the 2017-18 season.
In addition, when you start analyzing his numbers in terms of “per 100 possessions”, Love’s numbers are staggering this year. He’s averaging 32.8 points. That’s again the highest total he’s had since the 2013-14 season with the Timberwolves. He’s also averaging 16.7 rebounds, the best again in four seasons.
Numbers don’t always tell the whole story but as you can see, Love’s magical resurgence is indeed backed up by the stats. But even more than that it’s the leadership and renewed spirit that is really driving this team. Let’s look at that for a moment.
The Leader of the Pack
When you listen to Love after games or in various other interviews this season, he continually is praising his teammates. In this latest victory over the Bucks, he was quick to give props to his teammate Cedi Osman, who tossed in 23 points on the evening and was blistering from beyond the three-point line.
A few nights back after the Cavs’ win against the New York Knicks, Love made a point to praise Dean Wade, another player that has played as a starter in stretches and also seen lengthy times on the bench. I’ve had the opportunity to chat with Wade’s coaches from high school in the past and they too have shared stories of how Love has encouraged Wade off the court to become more aggressive on the offensive side of the ball because he knows that’s what Wade needs to do to stay in the league and compete nightly.
The friendly banter that seems to have grown this season between Love and his teammates and those players referring to Love as “Grandpa Kev” only suggests that this team is maturing before our very eyes. They’ve built a foundation now that can’t be broken. The beauty of that too is that you have a player, like Love who started his career as being the centerpiece of a Timberwolves team back in 2008, move over to Cleveland in 2014 and help Lebron James get a title for the Cavs. Now he will likely end his eldest and probably best years in the league leading a young and inspired group of Cavs that are still having birthdays at the young age of 21.
It’s quite the full circle of life in the NBA for “Grandpa Kev” and that’s just fine these days in “The Land.”