They finally got rolling toward the end of last season, only to have Love go down with a season-ending injury in the opening round of the playoffs and Irving get knocked out in the NBA Finals against Golden State.
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Plus you have two other title contenders beating each other up in the Thunder and Spurs, so if you think about it, this postseason is going nearly perfectly for Cleveland so far.
The Cavs are 12-0 when their big three – LeBron, Kyrie and Love – start a playoff game.
LeBron James finished the game with a near triple-double notching 21 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.
During the series against Atlanta past year, Kevin Love was out with a separated shoulder suffered in Game 4 of the Cavs’ 2015 first-round series against the Boston Celtics.
The Cavs shot better from the 3-point line in the series (51 percent) than on shots from 3 feet and closer (48 percent). So if the question is about beating somebody, I guess for five or six years, whatever team LeBron James has been on, the East has been trying to figure out how to beat that team.
The Cleveland Cavaliers had just swept the Atlanta Hawks out of the National Basketball Association playoffs, but Kevin Love had more important matters to attend to.
These last two series have served notice to the entire National Basketball Association the Cavaliers are here for your crowns and titles, they will be your champion. The Trail Blazers led 58-46 at the half and stretched the lead to as many as 20 points in the fourth quarter. In the Hawks’ case, they were swept and completely overwhelmed and caught off guard by what the Cavs threw at them: a record number of 3s.
It’s not the long-range marksmanship of Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving, Earl (J.R.) Smith III or Channing Frye. He made only one two-point basket – with his toe on the stripe.
“At some point, Kevin Love may be an option that they have to get to, and he has to make enough shots for four quarters or four games, whatever it may be”.
After all, LeBron James and Co. will likely either be facing a 73-win Golden State Warriors team or a San Antonio Spurs squad that won 67 games during the regular season.
Kevin Love led the way with 27 points, 13 rebounds and eight 3-pointers. “I just think we hit our stride at the right time and the team is playing really well right now”. I don’t want to hear anything about the summer. What a fool I was, as Lue coached a masterful series against the Hawks. But in his postgame press conference, the Cavs forward admitted his mind was far, far away from Philips Arena. He hit back-to-back layups late in the fourth quarter, the second putting the Hawks ahead 97-96 with 1:31 to play. Based upon the struggles the Cavs had at times this season, the firing of David Blatt and the rumors of Love being unhappy and wanting out, along with whispers that this would be King James’ a year ago in OH, I wasn’t sure if Cleveland could defeat Golden State or San Antonio. (Don’t worry, no spoilers.) In fact, it was Love’s defense on Paul Millsap in the final seconds that helped Cleveland secure the win in a tidy 2 hours and 23 minutes, so maybe dreams of Westeros were running through his head on that final possession.
Is it safe to say that anytime the Cleveland Cavaliers square off against the Atlanta Hawks in the playoffs that they will sweep them? Iman Shumpert played his best postseason game with 10 points.
“We’re in a great rhythm right now as far as us three”.
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Love had more shot attempts (25) than any other Cavs player on the roster as Cleveland continues to trust him to be a focal point within their offense – and rightfully so – as Love is indeed an oft-under appreciated and great player. In his seven seasons in the NBA, Teague has career averages of 12.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
