Kevin Love Looks Fed Up in Cleveland
Kevin Love looks about as annoyed as any player in the NBA right now. On Monday night, the five-time All-Star's frustration boiled over as he committed one of the strangest turnovers we've seen this year.
With 33.3 seconds left in the third quarter and Love's Cleveland Cavaliers trailing the Toronto Raptors 76-70 things kind of boiled over. As an official tossed Love the ball to inbound it following a Malachi Flynn layup, he dismissively slapped at it, causing the ball to bounce inbounds. Stanley Johnson picked it up and found Flynn, who nailed a 3-pointer.
Here's a look at what happened:
That's some high IQ ball right there, @iAmSJ pic.twitter.com/Y5N6ckYCgS
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) April 27, 2021
So there's a lot going on here and some context is needed. First off, Love is a former All-NBA player languishing on a Cavs squad that is 21-40 and headed for a third-straight lottery pick. Cleveland has now lost six of seven and eight of its last 10. On top of that, as Rob Perez pointed out, Love was enduring a really rough stretch in that game. He hurt his knee and was frustrated with the officials after getting shoved in the back without a call on Flynn's layup.
Check it out:
context of the Kevin Love video currently making the rounds:
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) April 27, 2021
• Love hurts his knee with ~2 minutes remaining in the quarter
• Love frustrated with refs shortly after that he got pushed in the back and there was no call
• Love hustled back the next defensive possession pic.twitter.com/dWtstppU4x
I think we can forgive Love for his moment of frustration. He's 32 years old and in the second season of a four-year, $120.4 million contract. He's stuck on a perpetually rebuilding Cleveland squad that he can't do much to help. I'd probably be in a foul mood as well.