Cleveland Cavaliers: What Does Kevin Love Have To Do With It?

The Cleveland Cavaliers grabbed momentum in Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals by beating the Golden State Warriors in convincing fashion. But don’t let the victory fool you, the Cavs are not better without Kevin Love.

It’s not you, it’s me.

At some point in our respective lives, in some form or another, we’ve used this line to break up with our former significant other(s).

As humans, we inherently feel the need to justify every decision we make — attach a causation for every action. But most often times, the result of an event is not so black and white; rather, it is usually the product of an avalanche of actions.

Just as you don’t break off a relationship just because he/she wasn’t “the one” when the underlying reason is probably all the weird quirks they do that annoy you in addition to the explanation you try to tell the world, who wins or loses in a basketball game cannot be merely defined by one play or one player.

Related Story: Warriors: 5 Takeaways From Game 3

For this reason, as the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to their blowout win against the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals on Wednesday night, the headlines of how the Cavs’ fortunes were the result of addition by subtraction had already been written.

At this juncture in the playoffs, Kevin Love is an easy target.

As the poster boy of the classic power forward who lost a bunch of weight, honed his three-point stroke and transformed into the modern day stretch-4, Love is considered by many to be soft and overrated.

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When placed in the role as “the man,” Love put up SLN (Shaquille O’Neal-like numbers), but could never catapult his Minnesota Timberwolves into the playoffs. The label as an “empty numbers” guy still resonates with him today.

His defensive ineptness and inability to finish at the rim has been scrutinized to a fault since joining the Cavaliers, as the national attention such a move brings has not brought out the best in the former UCLA Bruin.

There is a lot of truth in the criticisms, however.  In a week where we collectively honor the late-great(est) Muhammad Ali, it is important to recognize style makes fights; and the Warriors are just a horrible matchup for Love.

But to say the Cavs won solely because Love did not play? That would be an unadulterated lie.

Love not being active did not cause Cleveland to play with a much higher sense of urgency — especially on the defensive end.  While the James Gang still treated each pick-and-roll as an entity of its own (as opposed to the Thunder, who switched all actions involving a screen), they were much more attentive in when to pass along a cutter to a teammate, and when to avoid a needless switch.

In addition, the split actions and backdoor cuts Golden State feasted off of in Game 1 and Game 2 occurred few and far in between when the series shifted back to the Q on Wednesday night.  It certainly didn’t hurt either that the Cavs applied a much higher degree of on-ball pressure compared to previous games.

Not having Love in the lineup, however, did give coach Tyronne Lue the credence to stick LeBron James on Draymond Green, where his sheer athleticism and activity gave the artist known as the Dancing Bear flashbacks of his struggles in the OKC series when Kevin Durant was draped all over him.

It also freed Tristan Thompson to defend the opposing 5 and play closer to the basket, while Richard Jefferson was hidden on Harrison Barnes and played the role of an athletic free safety.

Offensively, without Love, the Cavs did not feel so compelled to “pound the ball down low” when the Dubs switch a small onto him, as after all, the small — usually Harrison Barnes — is only an inch shorter, sports the exact same wingspan, and weighs (at most) five pounds less.

Looking at the grand scheme of things, though, Lue could’ve made the above mentioned strategic changes even with Love in the lineup, but just in selective doses.

With or without Love, he wouldn’t have an impact on Kyrie Irving going into video game mode and J.R. Smith raining threes as if their opponent were wearing the Atlanta Hawks’ red and black.

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What didn’t change was Cleveland’s half-court offense.

Despite a concerted effort to create more man and ball movement at the start of the game, the Cavs still reverted back to their isolation, hold-the-ball ways, where they don’t get into their set until the shot clock ticked under 10.

Much like OKC, their active hands and ball pressure took advantage of the Warriors’ incessant need to make the highlight, thread-the-needle pass, which spurred Cleveland’s fast break game.  But Love had absolutely nothing to do with Kyrie and J.R. — two of the league’s highest variance players who play much better at home — finally breaking out.

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Credit the effort. Credit the defense. Credit the pull-up threes. Credit LeBron finally making open jumpers. Hell, even credit the all black socks and shoes ensemble the Cleveland Cavaliers training staff broke out for Game 3.

But, whatever you do, just don’t pinpoint the win on the absence of Love.