The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Boston Celtics on the road in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals despite not having Kevin Love, and they may have to begin the NBA Finals the same way.
Love, who suffered a concussion in Game 6 against Boston, remained in the NBA’s concussion protocol as of Tuesday. With Game 1 of the NBA Finals taking place on Thursday, Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue told reporters he is unsure if Love will be available.
It would obviously be a major blow to Cleveland if Love is unable to play, especially now that they are facing an offensive powerhouse like Golden State. The Cavs were able to get away with only scoring 87 points on the road against the Celtics on Sunday, but they will almost certainly need significantly more than that to top the Warriors.
The Warriors may be missing one of their key players to start the Finals as well, but they are a much deeper team than the Cavs. Love’s status is a major storyline in the series.
Kevin Love is not playing in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals due to concussion symptoms, but that does not mean he will not be around to support his team.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin says that Love is in Boston to watch Game 7 and will be watching from a room in the back.
Love has had some rotten luck with fluke injuries this season. He broke his hand on a fluky play, jammed his thumb against the Pacers and took an elbow to the face in the same series, and then he got hit in the head by Jayson Tatum early in Game 6.
Even if the Cleveland Cavaliers win Game 7 in Boston, there are no guarantees that Love would be cleared from NBA concussion protocol for Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will be without Kevin Love in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday, and they are hoping Jeff Green can be the one to pick up most of the slack.
Cavs head coach Ty Lue told reporters at Sunday morning’s shootaround that Green will start in place of Love, who is out with a concussion.
Green had his best game of the series and arguably the entire postseason in Game 6, as he scored 14 points and blocked two shots. Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics will have had more time to prepare for facing him heading into Sunday’s game, but Cleveland will likely need Green to be equally effective in order to win on the road.
Love ended up in the NBA’s concussion protocol after a nasty collision with Jayson Tatum on Friday night. He has averaged 12.5 points and 9.8 rebounds per game during the series.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will reportedly be without Kevin Love in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
According to Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon, Love will miss the decisive game against the Boston Celtics due to the concussion he suffered during Game 6.
This can’t be considered a huge surprise considering the circumstances that Love is dealing with. The Cavaliers had been playing it safe, but given the nature of the injury and the short turnaround, there was nothing they could have done. The onus will be on LeBron James to win a road game for the first time in the series if the Cavaliers want to play in their fourth consecutive NBA Finals.
The Cleveland Cavaliers offered little clarity on Kevin Love’s status for Game 7 on Saturday.
The Cavaliers announced that Love remains in the NBA’s concussion protocol, and there’s no word on whether he’ll be able to play in Sunday’s Game 7 with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line.
As a reminder, Love has a number of steps to clear before he can be allowed to play.
Love considers himself a toss-up. This one could go down to the wire.
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.
