How the Cavs challenged Kevin Love to find his game

CLEVELAND – Kevin Love spent last year's playoffs mostly standing around in street clothes, limited to just four games for the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Big Three became a Big Two, then Kyrie Irving got hurt and it was down to just LeBron James and then, soon enough, elimination.

Love's impact on this team and this potential championship run isn't lost on anyone. When he fell into an Eastern Conference finals shooting slump so horrific he was essentially benched in a Game 4 loss, his teammates came at him. The opportunity was too precious for Love not to impact.

Some were supportive. Some were challenging.

"I wasn't … positive," Richard Jefferson said.

Some offered a chance to commiserate, most notably a late Tuesday session with Channing Frye hitting home to Love. Frye recalled a 1-for-20 stretch he endured back in the 2010 playoffs when he was with Phoenix.

"He said, 'It just goes to show you, no one is immune,' " Love said. " 'You just have to find different ways to make your impact.' I give him a lot of credit for staying on me and staying vocal."

Love's first shot Wednesday was a turnaround hook, about eight feet out, nothing fluid or fabulous about it. The damn thing went in, though. That was enough for Love to heave out a sigh as he ran down the court. As Toronto inbounded the ball, LeBron extended a hand in congratulations. Love gladly accepted it.

The Cleveland crowd cheered not so much as a celebration, but in anticipation. That maybe Love was going to break out of his shooting slump, that the first one was a sign of what was, indeed, to come. Love finished with 25 points on 8-of-10 shooting, bombing in threes as Cleveland rolled to an easy 116-78 victory.

The Cavs hold a 3-2 lead in the Eastern finals and can close Toronto out Friday at the Air Canada Center.

And with that everything felt back for Cleveland, back to having three stars (each scoring over 20), back to decimating the Raptors (Cleveland took its stars out with a few minutes left in the third quarter), back to believing that when they play together, they can beat anyone.

For Love, it was back to making an impact and back to seizing the moment that he had to watch in street clothes a year ago.

"LeBron said this morning, he relishes this opportunity, so it's kind of the same thing," Love said, standing quietly at his locker after the game. "Kyrie getting hurt in the Finals and not playing 100 percent throughout and myself not being able to play…

"I'll go out swinging either way."

Maybe that was the best part, the swinging, the impact, the response. "A bounce-back game," LeBron said. Wednesday was the Cavs' plan in action. Irving had 23 points, nearly matching Love. That meant LeBron's 23-point, eight-assist and six-rebound effort was easy to overlook. That in a game of such significance LeBron wasn't required to put up 40 or a triple-double was the best part.

"There may come a time when I need one of those big games, but until then, relax," LeBron said.

James was one of the players who empathized with Love, as versed in playoff struggles as playoff glories.

"It's very difficult," James said. "You feel like you are by yourself. I've been there before. Things aren't going the way you dreamed about it."

The first shot may not have been exactly how Love envisioned it, but it spoke to a regained touch found through some lengthy shooting sessions the past two days. Those are unusual, but there was an added touch of urgency. After a two-game 5-for-23 stretch, that the shot went in was enough.

"Naturally felt good to get that first one," Love said.

Love followed with a 3-pointer from the left wing, then a 14-foot turnaround fadeaway from the baseline, then a couple free throws, then another three, and away Cleveland went. Twelve Kevin Love first-quarter points and suddenly the series swung back on a dime, the Cavs' bench players standing and waving towels, everyone aware of the importance, both short and long term.

"Oh, he's a force," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "He's an offensive force down low. He gets it going and we've got to go meet his force with our force and do a better job of one-on-one defense."

Over last weekend Love was the problem, the no-show, the missing piece – only this time he wasn't injured. And just like that, he was back, making Cleveland almost impossible to defend.

His teammates had counseled and cajoled him, and perhaps even challenged him, in no uncertain terms.

"R.J., he talked to me after the game and said, 'That is why we are hard on you, big fella,' " Love said. "I know my teammates expect a lot out of me, and I expect a lot of out of them."

One more win for the Finals, this time with all three stars firing on all cylinders.

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