Kevin Love returns to 5-on-5 Cavs practice, says he feels ‘pretty good’
discloating his left shoulder against the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of the first round of the NBA playoffs. Although Love is still not confirmed to be ready for opening night of the regular season on October 27 vs. the Chicago Bulls, his participation represents a significant step in his recovery.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are closer to welcoming back one of their two injured All-Stars. Power forward Kevin Love returned to five-on-five practice on Saturday, more than five months after[Yahoo Fantasy Basketball: Sign up for a league today]
Love says the return to practice was a successful one. Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com has the report:
“I felt good,” Love said. “Just getting into the rhythm of the plays more than anything, just getting my legs under me and contact — 5-on-5 felt really good.” […]
“[I felt] pretty anxious,” Love said. “It had been six months now. As far as progressing from the pad into 1-on-1, to 3-on-3, I was ready to get back out there in 5-on-5. As time goes [on], I’ll get more and more accustomed to being out there playing, but today was the first step.” […]
“He’d been hungry to play,” Blatt said. “We’d been holding him back. He’s been very anxious to play with the guys in a 5-on-5 game situation, and I’m sure he feels good today.”
Blatt said earlier in the week that it would be “realistic” to pencil Love into the starting lineup on opening night Oct. 27 in Chicago, but Love preached caution. […]
“He looked well. He looked healthy,” said LeBron James. “It was great to have him out there for our team and it was great to have another body back out there, especially someone who’s going to mean so much to our team, so he looked pretty good coming back.”
Love told Sean Deveney of The Sporting News Friday that he was still uncertain to return for the season opener, but Saturday’s practice and Blatt’s optimism suggest that it may be fair to assume he will be on the court. McMenamin also notes that Love is unlikely to play in the team’s back-to-back preseason games on Monday and Tuesday but could see “maybe a few minutes” on Thursday against the Indiana Pacers.
[Follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]
This news should benefit the Cavs, who could be without star point guard Kyrie Irving for several weeks as he recovers from the broken knee cap he sustained in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. While the Cavs have a loaded roster with plenty of capable players, LeBron cannot attempt to repeat his one-man show against the Golden State Warriors over any extended period of the regular season. For that matter, backup power forward Tristan Thompson is still unsigned and shows no sign of agreeing to a long-term deal any time soon.
All signs point to Love taking on added responsibilities with the Cavs whenever he is able to play his customary minutes. After a somewhat rocky first season with the franchise, Love has an opportunity to carve out a larger role. The sooner that process gets starter the better off everyone involved will be.
– – – – – – –
Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!