The Cleveland Cavaliers forced a Game 7 in their Eastern Conference Finals series against the Boston Celtics on Friday night, but it sounds like All-Star big man Kevin Love will be very much questionable for that deciding contest.
Love, who was injured in the first quarter on a collision with Jayson Tatum and did not return to the game, told Jason Lloyd of The Athletic afterwards that he was a “toss-up” for Sunday’s Game 7 in Boston. Lloyd also noted that Love will have more tests to pass before he receives any clearance.
The Cavs were mostly tight-lipped about Love’s status during the game, but the concern here is that he may have suffered a concussion. Jeff Green and Larry Nance Jr helped picked up the slack for Love for the rest of Game 6 (on top of another superhuman performance by LeBron James, of course). But it remains to be seen how well-equipped the already-thin Cavs will be if the star big man is out for Sunday’s Game 7 as well.
Kevin Love has been declared out for the remainder of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Friday night after hitting his head in a collision with Jayson Tatum.
Love checked out with just under seven minutes to go in the first quarter. He had run into Tatum and appeared to hit his head on the Boston Celtics forward’s head/shoulder. Love went down immediately and called to the bench to be subbed out.
Love had four rebounds in five minutes prior to leaving the game.
Love was taken into the locker room for evaluation. At halftime word emerged that he would be out for the rest of the game as he was evaluated for a concussion.
If Love does get diagnosed with a concussion, it would be tough for him to be cleared from the league’s concussion protocol in time for a potential Game 7.
According to NBC Sports Boston, a player needs the following to be cleared from concussion protocol:
– He is without concussion-related symptoms at rest.
– He has been evaluated by a physician.
– He has successfully completed the NBA return-to-participation exertion protocol.
– A team physician has discussed the return-to-participation process and decision with the Director of the NBA concussion program, Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher.
Kevin Love’s performance in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday night earned him high marks from even LeBron James’ daughter.
According to Cleveland.com’s Hayden Grove, LeBron was on FaceTime with his daughter in the Cavs’ locker room after Game 4. Zhuri, who is 3.5 years old, asked to speak with Love to congratulate him.
Love shot just 3-for-12 with 9 points and six turnovers, though he did have 11 rebounds. As if his Cleveland Cavaliers getting the 111-102 win over Boston weren’t enough to make him feel good, the love from Zhuri had to push things over the top.
Kevin Love exited Friday night’s Cleveland Cavaliers-Indiana Pacers playoff game after taking an elbow to the face.
Love was down low to fight for a rebound following a LeBron James missed jumper early in the third quarter. He got caught in the face by an inadvertent elbow from Myles Turner and went down to the floor.
Love’s Cavs were down 62-47 in Game 6 of the series at the time that he got hurt. Love remained on the floor but missed two possessions entirely and then was kind of a non-factor for another two possessions — though he grabbed one rebound — before there was finally a timeout called to get Love out of the game.
Tristan Thompson entered the game for Love to get some rare minutes in the series. Love had seven points and seven rebounds in 20 minutes before exiting the game.
It’s been a rough season for Love filled with fluke injuries. He suffered a broken hand in late January, he had a tooth knocked out by an elbow in March, and he got his thumb examined after jamming it earlier in the series. Now he took a tough elbow to the face.
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Ty Lue expects Kevin Love to play in Game 3 of their playoff series with the Indiana Pacers despite an injury scare late in Game 2.
Love jammed his thumb while reaching for a steal in the fourth quarter of the Cavs’ Game 2 win. He left for the bench and was examined and then taped up.
Love injuring his thumb seemed more concerning because he previously missed time this year due to a broken bone in the same hand. But Lue said after Game 2 that Love just has a jammed thumb and will be fine for Game 3.
Love also said after the game that he expects to play in Game 3 and made it seem like the injury was a non-issue.
Game 3 of the series will be on Friday in Indianapolis with the series tied at 1-1.
Kevin Love left Game 2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers-Indiana Pacers series on Wednesday to have his left thumb examined.
Love was looking to get a steal in the fourth quarter when his left thumb got jammed by the ball. He reacted in immediate pain, and the video shown by TNT appeared to show Love’s thumb being bent awkwardly.
Love went to the bench where his thumb was examined by the Cavs’ medical staff. TNT’s Allie Laforce later said that Love was being tested to see where he was feeling pain and that the Cavs forward would have his hand taped.
Love missed significant time earlier this year with a fracture in his left hand, so seeing him injure the hand again is no doubt frustrating.
Love had 15 points and eight rebounds at the time of his injury. He had made just five of 16 shots.
Kevin Love just cannot seem to avoid injuries this season, no matter how small or fluky they seem.
Love left Tuesday’s Cleveland Cavaliers-Miami Heat game after being hit in the face with an elbow just over a minute into the contest.
Love went into the locker room to receive medical attention. The Cavaliers later said that Love suffered a subluxed tooth and was probably to return, which he did in the second quarter.
The veteran forward recently returned to action after breaking a bone in his hand on Jan. 30.
Kevin Love put his recent time on the shelf to good use.
The Cleveland Cavaliers big man, who has been scorching hot from deep since returning from a hand fracture, told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin Friday that he tweaked his shooting motion while he was out. Love said he made his release “tighter.”
Love missed roughly a month-and-a-half (20 total games) after fracturing his left (non-shooting) hand during a loss to the Detroit Pistons in late January. Factoring in a victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday, he is now up to 10-of-21 from downtown (47.6 percent) in three games since making his return.
While it has been a challenging season in more ways than one for Love, this has been his best year shooting the ball since he arrived in Cleveland. Tack on this added improvement in his mechanics, and the five-time All-Star should be a force to reckon with as the Cavs go for their fourth straight Finals berth.
Kevin Love was the target of some criticism from teammates — mostly former ones — in January after he left a game with an illness and missed a practice, but apparently there have been some issues between him and other Cleveland Cavaliers players since last season.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin provided more context surrounding the tense meeting Love had where he was supposedly called out by Isaiah Thomas and Dwyane Wade. While both Thomas and Wade were traded earlier this month, it sounds like they weren’t the only ones frustrated with Love. Sources told McMenamin there was some “lingering” tension since Love went to the locker room after he fouled out of a game last season.
There were still lingering feelings, sources told ESPN, from how Love handled a loss in Chicago last March when he fouled out midway through the fourth quarter and immediately retreated to the locker room, rather than remain on the bench in support of his team. Jefferson ran to the back to bring him back out, but the damage was done.
Love, of course, was not the reason the sub-.500 Bulls scored 37 points in the third quarter that day. He wasn’t the reason Irving shot 7-for-20, or the reason Shumpert shot 2-for-8, or the reason James had four turnovers and shot 1-for-4 (0-for-3 from 3) in the fourth quarter. Even if he was a scapegoat, as often has been the case with Love in his three and a half seasons in Cleveland, there was still a perception of him giving up on the team.
Love was recently asked about why he always seems to be the scapegoat when things aren’t going well for the Cavs, and he had a pretty admirable response. For whatever reason, this has pretty much become the norm in Cleveland despite him being one of the best players on the roster.
Kevin Love has become somewhat of a punching bag in Cleveland over the past month, but he says he doesn’t mind that treatment … under one condition.
The former Bruin attended UCLA’s basketball game against Oregon on Saturday night in Los Angeles and even joined ESPN’s broadcast of the game with Dave Pasch and Bill Walton. While appearing as a guest on ESPN, Walton asked Love about getting all the blame for the Cavaliers.
“So long as we win, I don’t mind being the guy that takes the blame,” Love said. “As you see in the media so much, so much of that gets blown out of proportion. I think we have a great chance to make some noise in the last two months in the season. We’ve always gotten better every single year. And I think we have a good chance to come out of the East and beat the Warriors.”
Love also talked about the status of his hand and said he expects to be back in about a month. He’s been out since breaking a bone in his left hand on Jan. 30 and was given an initial 6-8 week timetable for a return.
As for the “fall guy” stuff, Love was targeted by his teammates in a late January team meeting about leaving a game with an illness and missing a practice. Since then, the Cavs have reshuffled their roster with several trades and now appear to be in much better shape.
