Cleveland Cavaliers Praying More Kevin Love Touches Will Net Another NBA Title

CLEVELAND — Behind LeBron James' historic start to the postseason and Kyrie Irving's 42-point performance to save Game 4 against the Boston Celtics, Kevin Love is quietly enjoying the best playoff series of his life.

Averaging 24.5 points, 12.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.3 blocks on a 50.8/55.6/85.7 shooting line against the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals still hasn't gotten Love the credit he deserves.

Of course, Love has posted inflated stats before. What he's never done is combine big numbers with a defensive appetite to match.

Stopping the opponent is perhaps the only thing standing between Love and superstar status. If the East Finals are any indication, he may finally be doing both.

After a quiet first two rounds against the Indiana Pacers and Toronto Raptors, Love has come out like a freight train against the Celtics—a team that ended his first postseason series just over two years ago.

He's already posted playoff career highs in points (32 in Game 1) and rebounds (17 in Game 4). His seven three-pointers in the first half of Game 3 marked a franchise record and were tied for the most threes made in a game against the Celtics in their illustrious playoff history, per Basketball Reference.

"Just picking my spots," Love told reporters after Game 3. "Finding open spots on the floor. When [LeBron James] and Kyrie [Irving] are playing downhill, we're playing with pace and we're able to get stops. A lot of those shots are there for me, so I've got to be ready."

The numbers are nice, but numbers alone don't truly reflect Love's overall contributions.

The 28-year-old has improved dramatically as a one-on-one defender since he arrived in Cleveland. His matured physique has helped to keep big men from their spots, and he's chasing smaller wings out of the paint.

But heading into the series against Boston, Love's ability to adjust to a new defensive scheme was in doubt. Starting against the Raptors, Cleveland began using a heavy-trapping system to slow the opposition. Love must either leave the paint to help double-team the ball-handler or rotate around the interior to pick up the open man.

It worked against Toronto's DeMar DeRozan, but Tristan Thompson did most of the heavy lifting. Against the Celtics, Love has been called into duty, and he's been excellent.

Boston came in looking to exploit the Al Horford-Love matchup, and it's backfired. Love has been cruising with his nearly 25 points and 13 rebounds a night, while Horford is giving the Celtics 13.5 points on 44.9 percent shooting with just 4.5 boards. Love nearly pulled down more rebounds in Game 4 (17) than Horford has all series (18).

He's also been Cleveland's best rim protector in the conference finals and one of the best overall in the NBA during this time. Opponents are shooting 48.1 percent when meeting Love at the hoop, per NBA.com. For comparison, Defensive Player of the Year candidate Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors is at 46.3 percent.

The question remains: Where did this come from?

"As an ex-player, any time you're getting touches and getting shots, your defense is always better, you know, because you feel more involved in the game," head coach Tyronn Lue told Bleacher Report.

"Kevin's been strong for us defensively all year. It shows this series against Isaiah [Thomas]; he's been good and rebounding the basketball. Defensively in the Indiana series and Toronto series he's been really good. Now in this series, starting to shoot the ball, getting touches and scoring the basketball, it's been great."

Throughout his career, Love's effort and focus have wandered on the defensive end. He showed he's a capable defender when locked in and appears to be reaching that level once again.

But basing defensive effort purely on your offensive results? Lue may have a point.

Opponent	Points	Touches	Def. Rebs	Blocks + Steals
vs. Pacers	15.5	53.8	7.5	0.8
vs. Raptors	12.0	48.8	8.5	1.3
vs. Celtics	24.5	62.3	11.0	2.0

There's a clear correlation between Love's touches/scoring and his ability to collect defensive rebounds, steals and block shots.

Three years of being in the same defensive system, typically with the same starting five around him, has helped Love tremendously.

When Love came to the Cavaliers, Lue was the associate head coach in charge of the team's defense. When he assumed head coaching duties in January 2016, he transferred defensive duties to assistant coach Mike Longabardi. But Lue typically regains control during the postseason.

"I think it's a result of just learning and understanding what we're trying to do," Lue said. "Now that he's been in the system for three years, he understands where he's supposed to be, he knows when he's supposed to react."

As Love continues to carve up the Celtics, we all know what test awaits.

The Warriors have been Love's Achilles' heel for the past few years. He's proved to be a poor matchup against the smaller, faster Green.

In the 2016 Finals, Love averaged just 8.5 points and 6.8 rebounds on shooting marks of 36.2 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from three. He missed Game 3 with a concussion.

In two regular-season games against Golden State this past year, he wasn't much better. His measly 11.5 points and 4.5 rebounds on 31.6 percent shooting proved the Finals were no fluke. Love struggles against the Cavaliers' greatest foe.

David Liam Kyle/Getty Images

This is where his rise to superstar stature may come crashing down. A second straight poor performance in the Finals would undoubtedly lead to more trade talks, especially if Cleveland loses the series.

Love's way to combat this is to show the same energy and enthusiasm for the defensive end no matter if he's getting five or 15 shots a game. With Green likely draped on him to start, the Cavaliers can cross-match their defense and start out with Love on Zaza Pachulia instead.

We won't see him put up the 25 and 13 he's pouring on the Celtics now in the Finals, and that's OK. Playing high-level defense, rebounding and keeping his energy level up will still count as superstar status in Cleveland's book.

Cavaliers Insider's Notebook

Big Ticket Tristan?

No one will confuse Tristan Thompson for Kevin Garnett when reviewing NBA history, even if Lue sees a similarity.

"I would say like KG as far as defensively, being the anchor of the defense and taking pride in guarding any position," Lue said when asked to compare Thompson to past players he's played with or coached. "Of course, offensively it's different, but defensively I think they have that same kind of motor."

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Each has one NBA title to their name, and the defensive stats during those runs aren't as different as one may think. During Garnett's postseason run in 2007-08, he registered 15.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per 100 possessions. Thompson came away with 16.0 boards and 1.5 blocks in Cleveland's title pursuit last year.

Lue and Garnett are friends, and the Cavaliers coach tried to coax the 41-year-old out of retirement to be Cleveland's backup center after Andrew Bogut was lost to a leg injury. Garnett politely declined.

Blame Dave

Game 3 against the Celtics saw plenty of celebrities arrive in Cleveland.

All three Browns first-round picks (Myles Garrett, Jabrill Peppers and David Njoku) were in attendance, along with comedian/actress Amy Schumer and singer John Oates. The one who got the most applause, however, was comedian Dave Chappelle.

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

Chappelle was seated in the first row behind Cleveland's bench and was apparently bringing them good luck. When he left his seat (followed by security) at halftime, the Cavs were up 66-50 and appeared to have the game in hand.

When the second half began, Chappelle, a Yellow Springs, Ohio, native, did not return to his seat. Around the same time, the Cavaliers' collapse began, as they were outscored by 19 points in the second half.

From that point on, all that was missing was for Celtics coach Brad Stevens to stare down Lue before whispering, "Game. Blouses."

Lost (and Found) in Transition

One of the Cavaliers' main defensive problems in the regular season was stopping the opposing team from running.

Cleveland allowed 1.18 points per transition possession, dead last among the 30 NBA teams. The Cavs were typically lethargic getting back on defense, allowing opponents to push the pace and get easy baskets.

This postseason, however, they've tightened up to 0.97 points per possession allowed, second only to the Warriors.

Stats via Basketball Reference and NBA.com and are accurate through May 25.

Greg Swartz is the Cleveland Cavaliers Lead Writer for Bleacher Report.