At this point, I’ve lost track of how many times the phrase “Cleveland Cavaliers lose to a team they should’ve beaten” has been utilized this season. It’s often stated after Cleveland had started to look like championship contenders. Said losses usually involve a subpar opponent, or one working with an injury-depleted roster. The losses themselves are becoming less frustrating than the frequency at which they occur.
Another one of these defeats took place last night, as the Cavs lost to a Chicago Bulls team on the verge of being eliminated from the postseason. Cleveland crumbled in the fourth quarter thanks to being unable to go punch-for-punch with the Bulls’ bench unit. It was just more proof the Cavs’ negative trends don’t appear to be going anywhere soon.
While we’re on the subject of “stop me if you’ve heard this before,” Kevin Love started the game on fire, pouring in 13 points and grabbing five rebounds. If you’ve followed the Cavs all season long, you could predict what would happen from here. Just as he has through much of the year, Love steadily disappeared as the game went on, scoring only seven more points through the rest of the night.
The amount of times Love shifts from Cleveland’s leading scorer in the first quarter to a complete non-factor is a genuine cause for concern. He’s a max player who is supposed to be one of the Cavs’ cornerstones. Right now, he often only fulfills this duty for about 12 minutes a night.
Love’s consistently inconsistent play isn’t the only reason the Cavs can’t seem to ever build any momentum, but it’s certainly a major factor. If Cleveland expects to make a deep run this postseason, it can’t just be getting one quarter’s worth of quality play from its max-contract power forward.
It’s tough to figure out why Love fades out of games after starting them so strongly. One would think opening frames like we saw last night would be huge for his confidence. However, he often seems to become a bit more gun-shy as the games drag on.
If his low-post work is resulting in multiple baskets early, Love still ends up drifting back out to the three-point line. If his long-range shot is falling in the first, he strangely becomes less eager to shoot from distance.
This doesn’t happen every game, but it’s happened enough to wonder just what’s exactly causing the problem.
At the moment, a lack of confidence might be the biggest culprit. It would at least explain Love’s motives when given a chance to make a crucial basket late in last night’s game.
With seconds remaining in the fourth and Cleveland down two, J.R. Smith missed a free throw, grabbed the rebound and kicked it out to Love, who was beyond wide open. However, he seemed to have no interest in trying to play hero, immediately passing it away to Matthew Dellavedova. The backup guard fired a glorious air ball, the Bulls rebounded and came away victorious.
If you’re a max-contract player and you’re that open, you take the shot. If you miss, fine, live with the results. At the end of the day, you aren’t getting paid millions to play hot potato when the game is on the line.
Love, however, begged to differ. His blatant lack of desire to take the potential game-winning shot was just another example of how his play seems to lose impact the later it gets into the night.
Whether it’s Love’s unsustainable confidence or the rest of the roster inexplicably deciding to shift strategy after the first quarter, something needs to change. Love can be a big factor for this team in the postseason, but if it’s only for one quarter, it won’t make much of a difference.
