The Cleveland Cavaliers have won six straight games despite poor play from Kevin Love. Love’s stats have been down across the board all season, but during the winning streak—with the only exception being the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder—he has played even worse.
Love missed the second game of the streak with a sore back. He then returned for the next four wins. A five-game sample size is admittedly small, but with much being made about the Cavaliers starting to “have fun on the court again” and “turnaround” their season, it seems surprising that Love hasn’t played a bigger role in the team’s recent success.
Below are Love’s stats during the winning streak compared to his season thus far.
Winning Streak
| Season | G | MP | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | 5 | 33 | .404 | 1.6 | 4.6 | .348 | 5.2 | 6.2 | .839 | 9.6 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 2 | 2 | 16 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/26/2015.
Season
| Season | G | MP | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | 43 | 35.4 | .433 | 1.6 | 4.8 | .341 | 4.5 | 5.4 | .821 | 10.3 | 2.2 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 17.5 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/26/2015.
Love has struggled shooting the ball the entire year. During the Cavaliers streak he has missed nearly 60 percent of his shots, shooting 40.4 percent. That includes a 4-for-12 night against the Los Angeles Lakers and a 3-for-13 game against the Chicago Bulls.
He did, however, manage to get to the line in those two games, shooting a combined 17-for-19 from the charity stripe to keep his points per game respectable.
In fact, getting to the free throw line a little more has been Love’s only noticeably improved area of play during the Cavs recent wins.
Love’s worst game of the winning streak came in the blowout win over the Charlotte Hornets. In 30 minutes Love scored just nine points and grabbed three rebounds.
The Drop Off
It was assumed that Love’s numbers would drop going from being the focal point of the Minnesota Timberwolves offense to being one of three in Cleveland. Total points would surely take a dip, but not many envisioned his efficiency shooting the ball to tail off as well.
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/26/2015.
While a 2 or 3 percent difference may not seem like much, that is the difference between average and elite. That small difference can also be the key in winning or losing, especially in the playoffs.
Before the season started, Chris Bosh shed some light on how difficult it would be to take the step down from first option to third.
From Bleacher Report’s Ethan Skolnick:
“Yeah, it’s a lot more difficult taking a step back, because you’re used to doing something a certain way and getting looks a certain way,” Bosh told Bleacher Report recently. “And then it’s like, well, no, for the benefit of the team, you have to get it here.
“So even if you do like the left block, the volume of the left block is going to be different. Now you have to make those moves count. So with me, it was like a chess game. I’m doing this move and thinking about the next move and trying to stay five moves ahead. You’re not getting it as much. If you got one or two a game, it’s a lot different.”
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For All-Stars like Love and Bosh, it can be difficult to get in a rhythm when they aren’t seeing the same number or type of shots they are used to getting. Bosh went through the same transition Kevin Love is going through.
Bosh was the focal point for the Toronto Raptors and then became the third option behind LeBron James and Dwyane Wade for the Miami Heat. He was able to do so successfully and his personal sacrifices helped them make four straight Finals appearances and win two championships.
Sacrifice
Media and athletes alike talk about sacrificing to win. Most of the time it means sacrificing both personal stats and an athlete’s body. Love is getting 5.3 fewer shots per game this year compared to last. That adds up over the course of the season. Even with his lower shooting percentage this season, he’d be averaging 24.5 points per game if he was taking those extra 5.3 shots.
It’s not just the number of attempts, but the quality as well. As Bosh points out, when a player is not the first option, they don’t have as many plays run specifically for them or may not get as many looks from their favorite spots on the floor. That makes it harder to convert the looks that a player does happen to get through the course of a game.
What Did Bosh Sacrifice?
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 1/26/2015.
Bosh’s shot attempts didn’t fall quite as much, partly because they didn’t have as far to fall. The type of shots Bosh was taking did change quite a bit from Toronto to Miami. Kirk Goldsberry for Grantland details Bosh’s career scoring evolution and how Bosh went from being one of the best post scorers in the game to one of the best midrange shooters.
His midrange game became vital to the Heat’s offensive spacing. Bosh was able to pull opposing bigs away from the basket, allowing driving lanes for Wade and James. If the defense collapsed, Bosh was there to hit the shot. If Bosh’s man stayed home, then Wade and James had a free lane to the rim.
Bosh’s shooting percentage dropped from 51.8 to 49.6, a 2.2 percent difference. Love’s shooting percentage dropped from 45.7 to 43.3, a 2.4 percent difference. While that is remarkably similar, Bosh’s percentage was much higher to begin with.
A team can live with Love shooting 45.7 percent from the field while he is making 2.5 threes per game at a 37.6 percent clip. However, when his overall shooting drops to 43.3 and three point shooting falls to 34.1 percent, there are going to be some issues. (Note: Bosh wasn’t shooting threes regularly until the 2013-14 season.)
Kevin Love’s challenge is learning to convert opportunities at an elite level without getting an “elite” level of attempts. Love’s offensive efficiency is even more important because he is not on the same level as Bosh defensively.
In Tom Habertroh’s ESPN.com article on Chris Bosh during the 2014 finals he says,
"Synergy Sports data ranked him as the single best pick-and-roll defender in the NBA, holding big-man opponents to just 0.53 points per play. In his final season in Toronto, few were worse. He ranked in the bottom 20 percent of the league in the same category."
Bosh may not actually block many shots, but he blows up opposing pick-and-rolls and is always in the right place at the right time.
The same cannot be said of Kevin Love who allows opposing players to shoot 55.6 percent at the rim, eighth worst for players defending at least five shots per game, according to NBA.com. The Cavaliers as a team are the second worst in the entire league allowing opponents to shoot 55.4 percent at the rim according to NBA.com.
Love’s rather poor defense is all the more reason he needs to find ways to score more efficiently.
Going Forward
Despite Love’s shooting struggles, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Cavaliers forward. In the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Love recorded 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, including 5-of-7 from three, to go along with 13 rebounds.
Love was able to punish the Thunder when they helped off of him to contain either LeBron James or Kyrie Irving. With James returning from injury and playing aggressively, especially driving to the rim, Love’s shooting percentage should improve as he gets more open looks.
Against the Thunder, all seven of his three point attempts were open with no defender closer than 4.7 feet away, per NBA.com.
Love won’t shoot 5-for-7 from three every game, but his three point percentage should rise as the season goes on and he becomes more comfortable in the offense and as James and Irving learn better where to find him on their drive and kicks.
On the other end of the floor Love may never become a stopper, but he can definitely get better. If Bosh was able to go from one of the worst pick-and-roll defenders in the league to one the of the very best, surely Love can manage some sort of improvement.
Even with Timofey Mozgov the Cavs are still a flawed defensive team. James gambles for steals at times and a lone rim protector can only do so much against dribble penetration. The hope is that Shumpert helps provide some perimeter defense, but at their best the Cavs defensive ceiling may top out at just “ok”.
To get where they want to go, the Cavs offense will have to be one of, if not the best, in the league. They have the pieces, the challenge is getting them all working at the same time in harmony.
For Kevin Love, that means hitting shots.