Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[SanduskyCav]

Every bad thing is magnified when you don't put the ball in the basket, and all your other contributions are ignored.

Unless you are Kyrie, then it's the opposite.

I don't think that's true, I see people calling Kyrie out as well. Both of these guys have fallen into consistency issues with their shot.

Zero assists at the point guard position, that's terrible. What makes Kyrie look even worse is that he has shown that in spurts he can play great defense, he just doesn't do it for some reason?

Love and Irving both need to step up a lot or if/when we meet Golden State in the finals we get swept. LeBron can't carry these guys to the Finals and then through the Finals as well

 

[Dr. Gymbo]

He's just so damn thin and weak. He goes into the post so weak. He makes drives the basket and bounces off most defenders, loses his rhythm and misses a hook or bunny or turns it over.

I mean I get that he changed his game to adapt to this team. Even if he gets elbow touches, he's missing and then he either presses or gets frozen out of the game.

It's a trend and not a good one...

 

[Cassity14]

Love's had a couple bad games shooting the ball, but let's not forget how dominant he was in game 2.

I was very encouraged in game 4 to see him finding ways to contribute even though his shot wasn't falling. His rebounding was great and his defense was actually pretty solid.

He did the opposite of what I ripped him for after game 3, and he deserves the credit.

 

[fan0283]

Every bad thing is magnified when you don't put the ball in the basket, and all your other contributions are ignored.

Unless you are Kyrie, then it's the opposite.

The Kyrie defence force makes it hard to get off a valid criticism.
Poster 1: Kyrie needs to do more on D and improve playmaking
Defence force: uh? Did you see the shot he hit over curry last year?

 

[Derek]

Of course, just like I thought, his hyper-efficient play in games 1 and 2 didn't matter because it was just the Pacers in the 1st round. But, as soon as he a couple poor shooting nights, his play against the Pacers is suddenly a big deal.

He still nearly averaged a double-double for the series with a TS% over .600

Not bad for a 3rd option

 

[Burt Macklin]

I wouldn't consider him a star. A really good role player, yes. But not a star. LeBron is a star, Paul George is a star, Curry is a star, Durant is a star, Chris Paul is a star, Kyrie is a star, Jimmy Butler is a star..Kevin Love is not a star. I'm not sure he's even a Top 25 player in the league at this point. His consistency is a big issue.

More or less this. He might've been one in 2014 but that dude is never coming back.

 

[Kbiz]

Of course, just like I thought, his hyper-efficient play in games 1 and 2 didn't matter because it was just the Pacers in the 1st round. But, as soon as he a couple poor shooting nights, his play against the Pacers is suddenly a big deal.

He still nearly averaged a double-double for the series with a TS% over .600

Not bad for a 3rd option

He shot like shit the last two games. Seemed to run into his typical bad shooting stretch where his shot has no lift...he likely has tired legs so I am glad we finished them off in 4.

With that said, he was a monster on the defensive boards, out rebounding everyone else on the court. (even TT)

The Love haters will claim that he's a nancy boy and can't handle playoff physicality, despite the stats that prove otherwise. The Love supporters (myself included) will lament how important extra possessions are in the playoffs and frankly when you have a team filled with as many options on offense as we do, correctly executing "the little things" is equally as important as one's shooting percentage. He also chipped in three assists the last game but meh, what difference does 6 points make in a 4 point game?

Not sure who else on this team is going to grab over 26% of the defensive rebounds available.

 

[Cavatt]

His rebounding is invaluable. Why is he so bad finishing around the basket though? It is mystifying

 

[Dr. Gymbo]

How the hell did I get disagrees? I didn't trash Love. He has played pretty weak offensively. He has missed a concerning amount of bunnies going back into the second half of the season.

I've been one of his longest supporters on this site but am just calling out what I am seeing. If his three pointer is off, he often tries to get some kind of rhythm going inside to the post to score or draw fouls.

He had done well rebounding the ball and doing other things that don't show up in the box score. But my point that I think he is too weak remains: when was the last time he drew and completed an And-1? He almost never finishes when he's fouled.

 

[Pioneer10]

How the hell did I get disagrees? I didn't trash Love. He has played pretty weak offensively. He has missed a concerning amount of bunnies going back into the second half of the season.

I've been one of his longest supporters on this site but am just calling out what I am seeing. If his three pointer is off, he often tries to get some kind of rhythm going inside to the post to score or draw fouls.

He had done well rebounding the ball and doing other things that don't show up in the box score. But my point that I think he is too weak remains: when was the last time he drew and completed an And-1? He almost never finishes when he's fouled.

I think Love fans get annoyed with this line of reasoning is in the same series against Pacers: the Cavs basically wrecked Stephenson's mind frame by having Love post-up Stephenson. I don't know what's happening with the team for stretches but when they've looked they've mercilessley have attacked weakness. So you have a guy who does post up and mess up the Pacers gameplan in Game 2 and then when not hitting his shots is able to board but he gets knocked for something else. (I agree he should be finishing better down low)

When people have posted other stars as an example it's all wing players peopel mention. This is the Bosh effect in full effect with Love. Which other PF's could fit with James and be better then Love: I can think Draymond, AD, Towns as only definite and I'm not sure about Towns due to youth and the Minnesota effect. You need a PF who can stretch the floor to play with him. Nice thing with Love his rebounding allows you to stretch the floor and still dominate the glass. TT's injury and dropoff in rebounding (i'm going off feel here as I haven't look his stats) is one reason I think our defense hasn't been as good.

 

[Cavatt]

How the hell did I get disagrees? I didn't trash Love. He has played pretty weak offensively. He has missed a concerning amount of bunnies going back into the second half of the season.

I've been one of his longest supporters on this site but am just calling out what I am seeing. If his three pointer is off, he often tries to get some kind of rhythm going inside to the post to score or draw fouls.

He had done well rebounding the ball and doing other things that don't show up in the box score. But my point that I think he is too weak remains: when was the last time he drew and completed an And-1? He almost never finishes when he's fouled.

I think that Love over exaggerates the foul. I would prefer he go through and actually try to make it. Sometime just throwing that slop up near the basket really backfires and makes it look like a terrible shot.

Say what you will about Harden. He tries to draw fouls and offensively flops all over the place, but he always tries to make the basket.

 

[buzzdog]

How the hell did I get disagrees? I didn't trash Love. He has played pretty weak offensively. He has missed a concerning amount of bunnies going back into the second half of the season.

But my point that I think he is too weak remains: when was the last time he drew and completed an And-1? He almost never finishes when he's fouled.

I disagreed because although he has missed a lot of bunnies he has done a lot better in that area, not as hopeless as he looked last year. He has started to show the ability to finish through contact at times (even made a 4 point play) and he's drawn a shitload of fouls in the paint lately. He didn't get any calls in game 4 and that had an effect on his offensive game plan (which is something I don't quite agree with). With a week's rest I'm hoping Love will get back to what we saw earlier this season when he was a monster in the paint.

I agree with a previous post about Love's apparent plan to just draw fouls in the paint instead of actually trying to make the basket. I also wish Love would just go up strong or use post moves and footwork to get open windows to finish, instead he just plows into defenders trying to draw contact which in my book is an ugly and undesirable brand of basketball no matter who does it.

As far as Love's strength goes he's a lot stronger this year than he was the past 2 years. He's only had one off season to work on his upper body after the shoulder injury and I think he'll continue to get stronger for banging in the paint. He isn't 30 years old yet so he's still got time to improve his strength.

 

[Omar The Horse]

His chef made some amazing looking burgers on Snapchat.

Channing, RJ, and Love look like they are having a good time

 

[Gus Zing]

Love played ok this series. The fear from some is that if he can't dominate the Pacers offensively how is he going to hold up vs. the Spurs or Warriors?

If this was last year I wouldn't mind. Love is doing enough to help the team win games. Its especially easier to accept that when LeBron is superman. However, I feel like the Warriors are better and the Spurs are a tough matchup. Even with the Spurs dropping a couple game will we see the fight from him like Marc Gasol?

If its the Warriors can he punish KD in the post and use his skill to make plays against Draymond?

I'm not sure. The good thing is he's got more games to get better. However, these next couple of rounds will let us know if Kevin will really be ready to roll. LeBron dominating/us sweeping doesn't matter as much unless Kevin in playing at all star level.

 

[MrX]

I think that Love over exaggerates the foul. I would prefer he go through and actually try to make it. Sometime just throwing that slop up near the basket really backfires and makes it look like a terrible shot.

Say what you will about Harden. He tries to draw fouls and offensively flops all over the place, but he always tries to make the basket.

My feeling as well. When he is fouled there is exaggeration to insure the call but if the refs choose to look the other way you not only lose the call but opposing team can remain as tight and aggressive as they want.

Love not fouled one time in game 4? Ind facing elimination fighting for their life and managed not to foul Love one time. Don't buy it