Kevin Love’s Reduced Role is Fine With Him

Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love is ok with not being the third, fourth or even fifth choice.

Love has seen his scoring dip and is taking fewer shots during the postseason. He is fine with that. The Cavaliers forward has not featured as much in the plans coach Tyronn Lue had during the first two rounds of the playoffs, but there have been no complaints from Love.

Love said he told his coach the team is 8-0 during the playoffs and he does not mind as long as the team is winning. Love added that if he gets 5, 6 or 15 shots it really does not matter if the team wins.

As Cleveland awaits the Boston vs. Washington series winner to play in the conference finals, the reduced role during this third postseason for the Cavaliers has become big topic for much discussion.

His time may have been reduced during the first two rounds, but Love remains a pivotal and integral part of team, said Lue.

Lue did hint this week that Love could become a bigger factor on offense in the upcoming conference finals. Lue admitted some was his fault by not featuring Love due to matchups the Cavs had against other teams.

During the Cavaliers 4-game sweep over Toronto, Love averaged only 12 points per game, after averaging 19 per game during the season. In Game 4, he scored only 5 points hitting 2 of his 7 shots.

Much of what is happening has to do with how well both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving have played. At the present time the Big 3 is just the Terrific 2, but that could change once the conference finals start and the matchups dictate if Love will be more involved and see more minutes on the court.

Lue said in the next round he wants to feature Kevin more and said he may have given too much respect to Serge Ibaka the Toronto defensive specialist who guarded Love during the series.

Lue said that Love has accepted his reduced role during the postseason due to Love putting the team first and all the rest second, as sacrifice is important.

Love has never been considered a good defender, but his defense is now very solid and his force on the backboards is unquestioned. Those types of things often go unnoticed, but not with Lue who says those things are vital to the team’s success.

Expect to see Love featured more often once the Cavs start the conference finals and the Terrific 2 will revert back to the Big 3.