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Kevin Love’s first playoff appearance is a mixed bag

By Ben Beecken

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If you watched the Cleveland Cavaliers for the first time this season on Sunday when they played host to the Boston Celtics in Game One of their first round playoff match-up, you were likely a bit surprised at halftime with how they used old friend Kevin Love on offense over the first couple of quarters.

In the second half, however, the offense began to run through him a bit more consistently, and the magic of Love, Irving, and James together became evident. In some ways, it was a miniature example of Love’s season in Cleveland.

Love had the least productive season (save for the injury-riddled 2011-12 campaign) of his career while playing along two stars that require the ball in order to be impactful in LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Everyone expected his numbers and per-game averages to decline, but there are a few underlying issues with how he’s been used, and they appeared early in Sunday’s game.

Love shot just 2 of 11 from the field in the first half including 1 of 3 from long-range and shooting only 1 of 2 from the free throw line. Looking at his season-long peripherals, it was really a microcosm of his misuse.

One of the key components of Love’s offensive effectiveness over the first six seasons of his career was his ability to get to the free throw line at will. The lowest free throw attempt rate with the Wolves (the number of free throw attempts per field goal attempt) was. .427 back in his second year in the league. He played in 60 games that year and started just 22 before a breakout year in his third season when he started 73 games and was named to the All-Star team.

This season, head coach David Blatt essentially used Love as a spot-up shooter from the perimeter far too often. His free throw rate plummeted to just .337 while his career free throw rate still sits at .438, even after this year’s outlier.

Love’s three-point attempt rate, on the other hand, went all the way up to .412 compared to .355 and .309 in each of the past two seasons with Minnesota.

Blatt’s idea was to use Love and, after a trade with the New York Knicks, J.R. Smith to space the floor for the likes of James and Irving, allowing them to penetrate into the paint and kick the ball out to the open shooters. A great idea, to be sure, but there are some fairly large differences between Love and Smith outside of the ability to make three-pointers at a successful rate.

Pulling Love to the perimeter also caused his offensive rebound rate to drop significantly: he has grabbed 11.3% of offensive rebounds in his career, but just 6.5% with the Cavaliers. That suppresses Love’s effectiveness and above all, his efficiency as he isn’t grabbing boards, drawing fouls and getting put-backs for easy buckets.

A season’s worth of misuse was showcased in the first half of Sunday afternoon’s win over the Celtics as Timofey Mozgov and Tristan Thompson received post touches while Love lingered on the perimeter, waiting for the ball to rotate.

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There were however, back-to-back plays in the middle of the third quarter that showed just how valuable Love is to the Cavs. First, he got his hands on an offensive board to keep a possession alive. After another missed shot by the Cavs, he corralled a tough rebound and laid the ball in for an easy basket. The next time down the court, he got the ball in the post and dished it to the corner for a wide open three and an easy assist.

Then there was a big defensive stop, keyed by Love staying straight up on his man and forcing the ball to be thrown out of bounds. The Cavs next possession saw another made bucket in the lane by Love.

True to form, Love managed to have a large positive impact on the game, just as he was vital to the Cavs’ regular season success despite stretches where he was completely and utterly misused. On Sunday, he had a plus-minus of +15 for the game, which while absolutely being an overused stat still isn’t completely worthless. He also dished out four assists and still managed to grab 12 rebounds to go along with 19 points on 5 of 14 shooting.

His defense was also passable, including a big strip-steal near the end of the first half followed by a great lead pass to James in the open floor that led to a fastbreak dunk. There were a couple of solid defensive plays as the Cavs pulled away a bit in the third quarter, too.

If Love remains assertive (he will) and the Cavs continue to feature him for stretches and get the ball to him in the post when the outside shot isn’t falling like it should (they should), the Cavs will go to the Eastern Conference Finals with ease and should be able to beat the Atlanta Hawks once they get there.

But just as we saw a mixed bag from Love on Sunday, we’ve seen a mixed bag from Blatt and the Cavs all season long. Stay tuned.

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