Love OK'd to play in Game 4; will come off bench
Kevin Love has been cleared to play in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers said about an hour before tipoff.
The power forward will come off the bench. The Cavs trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.
A three-time All-Star, Love was able to participate fully in shootaround Friday, five days after suffering a concussion when he was struck in the back of the head by Warriors swingman Harrison Barnes in Game 2. Love was re-evaluated pregame when he arrived at Quicken Loans Arena, joining the team for warm-ups on the court, before he was cleared.
Without Love in the lineup, Cleveland got off to a strong start in Game 3, going up 9-0 to begin the game and eventually leading by as many as 20 points in the first quarter. Richard Jefferson started in Love’s place, and the Cavs moved James to power forward.
One source close to the situation told ESPN’s Marc Stein that Love was “really frustrated” by the hard-line stance that the Cavs took to keep him off the floor Wednesday.
But Love returned to the court Thursday, practicing post moves with assistant coach Vitaly Potapenko for approximately 20 minutes in front of the media. He looked spry as he completed a series of jump shots, drop steps and dunks around the basket. On Friday, he was taking jump shots when the media were allowed in for morning shootaround.
Cavs star LeBron James deferred to coach Tyronn Lue when asked whether Love should start Game 4 if he was cleared.
“I have an opinion on who’s our general, and that’s Coach Lue,” James said after the shootaround. “He’s going to make the right decision that he feels is best for the team. So I’m a whatever — I think what’s more important is his health, and we hope he’s able to play tonight.”
Love has started all 152 regular-season games and 20 postseason games he has played in since joining the Cavs in the summer of 2014.
