Kevin Love-LeBron James Pairing Starting to Click with Cleveland Cavaliers
Following a disappointing 92-90 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Nov. 19, Kevin Love seemed both frustrated and a little discouraged.
Although his Cleveland Cavaliers barely lost to the defending NBA champions, Love finished with just 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting from the floor. He was nearly invisible in the fourth quarter, attempting just one shot while watching teammate LeBron James dominate the ball.
Love and James, although only 10 games into their career together, were struggling to coexist.
"It's come to a point where I'm just trying to find myself in this offense," Love told ESPN's Dave McMenamin after the game. "It's almost related to when you come into the league; usually the guys that dominate the ball so much tend to learn a lot quicker than a guy like myself, a big man. So, I'm just trying to find different spots in the offense"
Fast forward eight contests, two-and-a-half weeks and a six-game win streak later.
Love has provided some impressive scoring outputs lately, with James helping to facilitate his development in the offense. The result has been a rise to No. 4 in the Eastern Conference for the Cavs, with a recent 105-91 win over the conference-leading Toronto Raptors to boot.
Suddenly, things are looking up for the superstar pair.
Love and James are finally starting to click for the Cavaliers, thanks to changes both have made in their respective games.
Comfort and Continuity
Time heals all wounds—and gets Love better acclimated to coach David Blatt's offense and playing alongside James.
Love kicked off his recent stretch of strong play with a 23-point effort on Nov. 22 against the Toronto Raptors. That game marked his 12th of the season, a number that is eerily similar to a former teammate of James.
After spurning the Raptors to sign with the Miami Heat in 2010, Chris Bosh had to make his own adjustments next to James. Bosh needed to pick his spots, where James liked to deliver the ball and when to take on the scoring load himself.
In their first 10 games playing off James, Bosh averaged just 14.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. Over the final 67 contests that season, Bosh's stats inflated to 19.3 points and 8.7 rebounds.
Just gaining that experience around each other was key, as was a comfort level that can only be obtained with time.
Love is just beginning a similar experience, as he recently told Bleacher Report's Nick Dimengo:
"I think it's just getting more comfortable and, as I mentioned, watching a lot of film. I'm getting the ball in my spots, and we've had good spacing these last few games. We're doing a good job spreading out whenever LeBron or Kyrie are going downhill and attacking, getting to the free-throw line, coming off screens.
I just think, for me, I'll continue to figure things out because the ball isn't always in my hands, but as I've always said, I'll do whatever it takes to help this team win, so that's what I'm going to continue to do.
"
While his rebounding has remained solid throughout the season (9.8 per game, best on Cavaliers), Love's offense has taken a giant step forward.
In his first 11 games, Love averaged 15.9 points on 38.8 percent shooting from the field. Of his 12.6 shot attempts, 5.5 (44 percent) came from beyond the three-point line.
Over the last seven contests, Love has increased these numbers to 19.6 points on 53.3 percent shooting. While his shot attempts have remained similar (12.9), only 3.6 have come from deep (28 percent). Even though Love has cut down on his three-point attempts, he's been much more efficient (40.0 percent to 36.7 percent) during the last seven games.
Love finally appears to be getting comfortable next to his all-world teammate, with James lending a helping hand as well.
Picking His Spots
As touched on previously, Love had been spending a good amount of time hanging out around the three-point arc on offense.
While Love is a very capable outside threat (36.3 percent career mark), he excels even more as a low-post scorer. Not the tallest or most athletic player in the league, he relies on his positioning, footwork and body control to score in the paint and draw fouls (81.6 percent career free-throw shooter).
The Cavaliers can, and should, certainly use him to stretch the floor at times. Like most other big men, however, Love needs to get his touches inside first to get into the flow of the game.
During the last seven contests, we've seen Love get inside more often and reduce his number of three-point attempts.
Love's shot chart for the season reveals his adoration for the three-ball, especially from above the break. He also struggled to convert from inside the restricted area, typically the feasting zone for talented post scorers.
Love is working to score the ball inside, with James looking to find the All-Star big at his favorite spots.
Looking for Love in All the Right Places
James is learning where Love needs the ball, and he's been happy to accommodate him.
Here's how James' passes are being directed to Love, both overall this season and over the past seven games, via NBA.com. While his pass total has actual decreased slightly, the quality of looks and conversion success has increased significantly.
| James' Passes to Love | PASS | AST | 2FGM | 2FGA | 2FG% | FG% |
| Season Overall | 15 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 2.9 | 52.8 | 41.3 |
| Last Seven Games | 14.6 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 3.7 | 57.7 | 46.3 |
Other than point guard Kyrie Irving, Love has been James' most targeted teammate by far.
James is directing 25.2 percent of his total passes toward Love. The next closest Cavalier is Shawn Marion at 12.7 percent.
This is a great sign of cohesion between the two, as James recognizes the advantage that Love has over most defenders. One more telling stat? He's finding Love even more often than he did Bosh a season ago (17.4 percent of all passes).
While James has gone through the trials of sacrificing shots, picking spots and catering to star teammates, Love is experiencing all of this for the first time.
The fact that James is dedicating so many of his looks to Love is a great sign this early in the season.
Establishing Roles
Despite standing 6'8" and weighing 250-plus pounds, James may be the Cavaliers' best pure point guard.
Irving is technically listed as the team's starter at the position, although he's played more off the ball since the arrival of James.
Over the past seven games, coinciding with Love's offensive improvement, James is averaging 10.1 assists. His 7.9 per night for the season mark the second-highest average of James' 12-year career.
Cleveland has been a better team when James handles the playmaking duties and serves as distributor. In 11 wins, James is averaging 9.1 assists; in seven losses, just 6.1 dimes.
Terry Pluto of the Cleveland Plain Dealer notes that James is very much aware the offense is clicking better when he runs the point:
"James realized that while Kyrie Irving was an All-Star point guard, the Cavs are best with the ball in his hands. When James starts the half-court offense in the middle of the floor, it creates scoring opportunities for him and open shots for others.
"
James' new love for the point guard position has been great news for the Cavaliers offense, especially Love.
For Love, it's all about being aggressive in his role as a low-post scorer.
James has been happy to feed Love down low, provided he make his demands known, notes Joe Vardon of the Northeast Ohio Media Group:
"If Kevin Love wants the ball in the post, he'll get it, LeBron James said Friday before the Cleveland Cavaliers' road game against the Washington Wizards.
'It's the demand,' James said, weighing in on the 6-foot-10 Love's stated discomfort in the offense through 10 games. 'Kevin's a guy, if he wants the ball in the post, he gets it in the post. If he demands it, we'll give it to him.'
"
Now, eight games later, it appears Love has done just that. James and Love finally appear to be thinking alike, with each contributing to the other's game.
With both likely to ink five-year extensions this offseason, this could be the beginning of a long and offensively-dynamic relationship.
Let the rest of the league be warned.
Greg Swartz has covered the Cleveland Cavaliers for Bleacher Report since 2010.
All stats provided by Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
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