Stud: Kevin Love
I’m being completely honest when I say that at this point last year, I thought it would be best to move on from the often-injured veteran big man. In reality, I could not have been more wrong. Kevin Love put in a masterclass effort last night, scoring 22 points while shooting 4-of-7 from deep. However, his scoring wasn’t the best part of his game last night, it was his passing.
Love finished with 10 assists, with many of them being absolute dime passes to cutting teammates, or wide-open guys on the perimeter. With the game out of reach for the Pistons in the fourth quarter, Love only played three and a half minutes in the fourth quarter, despite being only two rebounds away from his first triple-double in years.
Love has become a leader and a very important role player for a dangerous Cavalier team. Even when the triple-double was in reach for Love, he told head coach JB Bickerstaff to let some of the younger guys play in the blowout win.
"“That shows you what kind of player Kevin is,” Bickerstaff said. “I discussed it with him, and he told me to do what was best for the game, and that was to give some minutes to our younger guys.” JB Bickerstaff, Cavalier Head Coach (ESPN)"