Kevin Love isn’t fine, but he’s going to be fine.
He thinks.
Love apparently injured his knee during the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 105-99 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday night, according to the Akron Beacon Journal‘s Jason Lloyd:
Kevin Love said he hurt his knee when he stepped on official's foot. Expects it to be sore tomorrow but he'll play in Game 5
— Jason Lloyd (@JasonLloydABJ) May 24, 2016
Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue didn’t even play Love during the fourth quarter. But that pretty much happened in Game 3 as well. Love just hasn’t been playing good.
After shooting 9-of-16 to start the series in Games 1 and 2, he went 5-of-23 from the floor during Games 3 and 4. The Cavaliers need more out of him if they’re to shift this series back in their favor come Game 5. Their three-point shooting has been mostly abysmal against Toronto, and Love, when on, is one of their greatest floor-spacing weapons.
But it’s becoming increasingly difficult for Lue to keep Kevin Love in the game. That’s the dilemma when he isn’t knocking down shots. He doesn’t add value to the defensive side of the ball, and because the Cavaliers typically have him stationed beyond the arc, he isn’t going to add a ton as a strong offensive rebounder.
It makes more sense for them to roll with one of Tristan Thompson or Channing Frye at the 5, both of whom are defensive upgrades, while surrounding them with three other shooters and LeBron James, who struggles to score outside the paint these days.
It may also be unreasonable to expect Love to improve now that he’s dealing with a sore knee. He came up visibly limping after the incident, and the Cavaliers’ play again on Wednesday. One day’s rest isn’t all that much, and given that he was struggling to begin with, Cleveland could enter Game 5, and beyond, with quite a problem on its hands.
