Cavs stud: Kevin Love
The Cavaliers needed Kevin Love to step up on Saturday night, and he answered the bell. In a game where they were without Garland or Mobley, Love’s shooting and rebounding efforts were crucial in the grand scheme.
Love tallied 20 big points, shot seven-of-15 overall and connected on five of his 11 three-point attempts, cashing in on a number of key catch-and-shoot looks after drive-and-kicks. With the likes of Garland and again, Mobley, out on Saturday, Love’s contributions were much-needed in a game where the Cavaliers had some limitations obviously in set offense.
When Love has been in-rhythm and has the looks where he’s been able to square himself, it’s often led to him canning shots from deep. Whether it was from drive-and-kicks, or from ball-swings, while there were still some shots off the mark that were short from way out outside, Love did enough to help give the Cavaliers a cushion for hanging on down the stretch.
Granted, there’s limitations with Love at this juncture, and defensively, it’s been an adventure on-ball. But, to his credit, Love made some meaningful hustle plays on Saturday, had quality position on the glass, which helped the likes of Jarrett Allen and others, and drew yet another charge.
Now, in fairness, Love did have three bad giveaways in the fourth quarter on passes from Chicago pressure in contesting those, two of which were down the stretch, too. Those were blemishes on an otherwise nice night from the veteran forward.
However, it’s apparent that Cleveland doesn’t pull this one out without Love’s services for much of the contest.