Can Ty Lue Convince Kevin Love to Come Off the Bench in Game 4?
By Jason McIntyre
Finally, LeBron’s supporting cast showed up in the NBA Finals.
Just as Shaun Livingston and Draymond Green had fantastic games in Golden State for the Warriors, JR Smith (20 points) and Kyrie Irving (30 points) showed up for Cavs in Game 3, and suddenly, we’ve got a series.
When Cleveland fans are done celebrating the 30-point romp, they’re going to be faced with a difficult question: What do you do with Kevin Love?
They’ve got a 3-point shooting $120 million man who doesn’t play a ton of defense, and it showed on the road. So they come home, Love misses the game with a concussion, and 1) the defense is markedly improved and 2) they still destroyed the Warriors on the offensive and defensive glass.
So what do you do with Kevin Love?
It feels a little like the David Lee-Draymond Green situation that the Warriors were faced with three years ago. Lee was the starting power forward, the team’s 3rd leading scorer, but an injury opened the door for Green to steal his minutes, and he never gave them back. Lee’s injury is a footnote in history: It was the birth of the Lineup of Death.
The difference for the Cavs is that Love is the younger, obviously better player than 35-year old Richard Jefferson. So what do the Cavs do?
Options:
A) Convince Love that they want to ride the hot lineup, and have him come off the bench. Hey Kevin, it’s a matchup thing.
B) Insert Love in the starting lineup under the guise of, ‘we got here with Kevin Love, he’s our guy.’ My guess is that won’t go over well among fans, media and especially in the locker room.
C) I won’t even float the idea of the Cavs not clearing Love from his concussion because the players association and his agent would get involved and that would get ugly.
I go with Door A. If Love’s a team player, he’ll understand. The Warriors are a difficult matchup for anyone, and many teams in the playoffs have had to adjust their lineups. The Warriors made a run in the 2nd quarter of Game 3 when the Cleveland bench lost much of the 20-point lead. Perhaps Love’s offense with that unit sparks the bench?