Kevin Love - Miami Ground Machine

[RedBlackAttack]

Let's not jump the gun here, guys. We are up 2-0, but they were two close games, one of which could have quite literally gone either way with that shot by CJ.

I'm not sure why the Warriors are a point of discussion at this stage. The road won't be 'easy' for them, and much more difficult for us.

But, on-topic, KLove was awesome tonight. I loved his aggressiveness. He really got inside Stephenson's head which, while not the most difficult thing in the world, was really fun to watch. Love isn't always the most alpha guy out there just because of his more quiet disposition.

It was obvious that he saw it as a personal insult McMillan would attempt to defend him in the low post with Lance and Kevin was going to make him pay.

That rubbed off on Kyrie and suddenly he wanted a piece of Lance. Suffice to say, Stephenson had a rough night and he will have nightmares tonight about #0.

 

[CavzAddict]

why do they stray away from Love after he gets red hot? we lose leads playin that one on one bs in the fourth qtr every time

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Love is bigger than Draymond is, taller and weighs more.

I think one more summer for Love in the weight room and he will, almost certainly, be stronger than Draymond because of added bulk.

I just hope Love is healthy heading into the summer, so he can hit the weights hard.

Draymond is a strong, powerful motherfucker down low. I hate him, but that dude can guard anyone on the block.

Love can absolutely get his, but he would have to be at the top of his game. His jump hook and his fall-away bank shot would have to be falling. He's not gonna just bully Draymond for 6 trips to the line in one quarter. Draymond is a smart, elite, strong post defender.

Love would be better off facing up at the elbow against the Warriors. That way he's more of a triple threat. He turns the ball over too much when pressured heavily in the post and if doubled at the right time. At the elbow though, as long as LeBron is cutting hard and we are setting good screens, Love could absolutely, drive, pass, or just straight up shoot 17 footers right over Draymond. Gotta know your personnel and pick your poison.

If Durant is on him though, I think he absolutely should go into the post a lot versus him. Force him to bang down low, and either draw some fouls on him, or draw a double team. Just has to make sure he is passing to the right guys and that he's passing fast enough. At the very least it could wear Durant down some.


The problem with posting up against GSW is, they are almost HAPPY to let Love post up, 1v1, even vs Durant, and shoot all the baby hooks, turn around jumpers, etc, that he wants, because even the best post players aren't putting out enough points per possession to hang with them offensively. That's another reason the elbow is important to take control of against them. You have to be in a triple threat position as much as possible because the goal is to get the ball moving and to get open threes. We have to take and make threes against them. Also, post ups gone awry are very very very susceptible to them getting out in transition. They're deadly in transition. That will be the hardest part about that series, trying to control those fucking team stacking cheating bastards in transition.

 

[LeShaq]

Draymond is a strong, powerful motherfucker down low. I hate him, but that dude can guard anyone on the block.

Love can absolutely get his, but he would have to be at the top of his game. His jump hook and his fall-away bank shot would have to be falling. He's not gonna just bully Draymond for 6 trips to the line in one quarter. Draymond is a smart, elite, strong post defender.

Love would be better off facing up at the elbow against the Warriors. That way he's more of a triple threat. He turns the ball over too much when pressured heavily in the post and if doubled at the right time. At the elbow though, as long as LeBron is cutting hard and we are setting good screens, Love could absolutely, drive, pass, or just straight up shoot 17 footers right over Draymond. Gotta know your personnel and pick your poison.

If Durant is on him though, I think he absolutely should go into the post a lot versus him. Force him to bang down low, and either draw some fouls on him, or draw a double team. Just has to make sure he is passing to the right guys and that he's passing fast enough. At the very least it could wear Durant down some.


The problem with posting up against GSW is, they are almost HAPPY to let Love post up, 1v1, even vs Durant, and shoot all the baby hooks, turn around jumpers, etc, that he wants, because even the best post players aren't putting out enough points per possession to hang with them offensively. That's another reason the elbow is important to take control of against them. You have to be in a triple threat position as much as possible because the goal is to get the ball moving and to get open threes. We have to take and make threes against them. Also, post ups gone awry are very very very susceptible to them getting out in transition. They're deadly in transition. That will be the hardest part about that series, trying to control those fucking team stacking cheating bastards in transition.

Draymond is strong, but I think Love is stronger. Or will be.

Love had to be able to move 270 lbs of fat bulk early in his career. That takes a huge amount of leg strength.

I respect Draymond, but Love is (or is capable of being) a very stout guy.

I'd have to go back and look, but I think Love has had at least some success posting up Draymond in the past.

I do agree on this, though -- no reason to force Love post-ups on Draymond just to do it. Find something easier, if possible. Such as the elbow face-ups you mentioned.

I agree on Durant. He's simply too light to be able to handle Love, even with his length.

Matching up with the Warriors is not going to be easy, for sure. And we do have to use Love properly to do it. The fast he can find his comfort zone, the better.

 

[MoFlo]

I loathe looking ahead (including for superstitious reasons), so I won't mention any team specifically, but I will say this.

The key to Love's "post" touches against guys who are strong/long isn't necessarily to get him the ball in the post against those guys. You can:

*Pick n roll with Love, with him dragging the other defender with him to the post, which he does an excellent job of doing

*Run him off of off-ball screens, either creating mismatches down low or getting him an easy lay-up

*Get him the ball facing up those guys longer/stronger guys

Love is a very good and willing passer and is great at drawing fouls.

Yes, he has some trouble with double teams. So run some off-ball screens while Love has the ball in his hands so if he gets doubled, he has an open outlet.

Love is very versatile, you don't just have to have him post up or stand behind the 3 point arc.

 

[Gus Zing]

Younger pudgier Love could probably physically take it to Draymond. Not sure current Love. Lance was finishing through him.

Thats not to take away Love's great performance. He's just not the bull in the post he use to be. Also that would be playing right into the Warriors hands. I'd rather the Cavs use Love's smarts and skills to help beat the Warriors. He's a terrific passer, he's good off of screens, etc etc.

 

[Meatwad]

You say "Love is who he is" like it's a bad thing...

Over the course of his 3 seasons here, his Per 36 numbers are:

19.0/11.4/2.5 with a USG of 23.6.

The only individual seasons with those Per 36 numbers in NBA history:

Nikola Jokic '16-17
Kevin Love '10-11
Charles Barkley '86-87
Charles Barkley '85-86
Jack Sikma '82-83
Jack Sikma '81-82
Kareem Abdul Jabbar '78-79
Artis Gilmore '78-79

Love has done it over the course of 3 seasons here.

His Per 36 numbers this season:

21.8/12.7/2.2

The only players to put up those Per 36 numbers (Min 50 G) with their USG% in ():

-Kevin Love '16-17 (26.4)
-Kareem '78-79 (27.0)
-Hakeem '89-90 (28.1)
-Cousins '13-14 (32.7)
-Cousins '14-15 (34.1)

He has made the most of his usage by far since he's come here.

Love continues to be severely underrated by a lot of Cavs fans. He's a Top 20 player in the league.

Wasn't hating on Love...

Very happy with what he gives us..

Carry on

 

[Photon]

The post up problem is long time present. Why do we post up anyone almost halfway out to the 3pt line?? You get the target under the basket with quick passes and quick setup. Nobody can stop LeBron in those situations, same goes for Love. You target him when he is crossing the paint. Green can't bully you if he is already under the basket. Old school 20 seconds pushing into the paint is not something modern defense allows.

 

[FrontPageNews]

Love has the size to bully Draymond Green and KD in the post. This is definitely something the Cavs need to stick with throughout the playoffs.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Draymond abuses Love down low. We need to avoid that at all costs. Keep love at the 3 point line against him.

 

[MoFlo]

Draymond abuses Love down low. We need to avoid that at all costs. Keep love at the 3 point line against him.

Even if Love has trouble with Green in the post, leaving him behind the 3 point line is criminally misusing Love.

There are other things you can do if you don't want to post him against Green.

 

[fan0283]

Draymond is strong, but I think Love is stronger. Or will be.

Love had to be able to move 270 lbs of fat bulk early in his career. That takes a huge amount of leg strength.

I respect Draymond, but Love is (or is capable of being) a very stout guy.

I'd have to go back and look, but I think Love has had at least some success posting up Draymond in the past.

I do agree on this, though -- no reason to force Love post-ups on Draymond just to do it. Find something easier, if possible. Such as the elbow face-ups you mentioned.

I agree on Durant. He's simply too light to be able to handle Love, even with his length.

Matching up with the Warriors is not going to be easy, for sure. And we do have to use Love properly to do it. The fast he can find his comfort zone, the better.

Draymond is stronger. Forget about weight. Love has had trouble backing hin down everytime and that's nothing to be ashamed about because Draymond somehow does it to the likes of LMA, Cousins, Davis etc. He wouldn't even be in the running for DPOY if he was vulnerable in the post.

Warriors doubled him in the finals and he turned the ball over almost everytime. I would be pissed if we still dont have a counter to this. If TT's man doubles, let TT set an off ball screen on Lebron's defender for an easy cut to the rim. Time to turn Love's post ups into more than just a gimmick in our offense

Edit:looks like it's already been said above me.

 

[Adam]

I would post love against draymond early in the first to try and draw a quick couple of fouls

 

[fan0283]

Draymond is a strong, powerful motherfucker down low. I hate him, but that dude can guard anyone on the block.

Love can absolutely get his, but he would have to be at the top of his game. His jump hook and his fall-away bank shot would have to be falling. He's not gonna just bully Draymond for 6 trips to the line in one quarter. Draymond is a smart, elite, strong post defender.

Love would be better off facing up at the elbow against the Warriors. That way he's more of a triple threat. He turns the ball over too much when pressured heavily in the post and if doubled at the right time. At the elbow though, as long as LeBron is cutting hard and we are setting good screens, Love could absolutely, drive, pass, or just straight up shoot 17 footers right over Draymond. Gotta know your personnel and pick your poison.

If Durant is on him though, I think he absolutely should go into the post a lot versus him. Force him to bang down low, and either draw some fouls on him, or draw a double team. Just has to make sure he is passing to the right guys and that he's passing fast enough. At the very least it could wear Durant down some.


The problem with posting up against GSW is, they are almost HAPPY to let Love post up, 1v1, even vs Durant, and shoot all the baby hooks, turn around jumpers, etc, that he wants, because even the best post players aren't putting out enough points per possession to hang with them offensively. That's another reason the elbow is important to take control of against them. You have to be in a triple threat position as much as possible because the goal is to get the ball moving and to get open threes. We have to take and make threes against them. Also, post ups gone awry are very very very susceptible to them getting out in transition. They're deadly in transition. That will be the hardest part about that series, trying to control those fucking team stacking cheating bastards in transition.

Just going to requote this because of how insanely accurate his points about GS are. There are huge risks involved in just posting anyone not named Lebron.

Last thing to add is GS comes well prepared on the scouting front. They did the same thing to Love they did to LMA. Sit on his left shoulder because everyone in the arena knows he's setting up a right hook. This feels like deja vu. We went through all of this last year. Lue needs a detailed plan to make Love effective

 

[Kbiz]

Not even 12 hours removed from one of his best playoff games and we are already talking about how Love will be rendered ineffective against GS...what a shock.

 

[InBoobieWeTrust]

Not even 12 hours removed from one of his best playoff games and we are already talking about how Love will be rendered ineffective against GS...what a shock.

I didn't say ineffective . I just said we will need to find him more inside the three point line touches that don't involve trying to back Draymond down. Love will have open shots all series vs them and I think he has the confidence to knock them down at a high rate now. That will be huge for us.They want him shooting, not Kyrie or LeBron, and he needs to and will make them pay for that. That's what a big 3 is all about.