Kevin Love Injury: Updates on Cavaliers Star's Back and Return
Kevin Love is dealing with a back injury that caused him to miss Cleveland's 126-121 win over the Clippers Friday. The Cavaliers star was back in the starting lineup on Monday vs. Chicago.
Continue for updates.
Monday, Jan. 19
Despite some confusion surrounding Tristan Thompson being listed as the starting power forward tonight, Kevin Love did in fact start tonight's game against the Bulls confirms Rick Noland of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram.
On Jan. 18, Chris Haynes of The Plain Dealer reported that Love practiced with the Cavaliers on Sunday and that the team listed him as questionable for Monday's game vs. Chicago.
Love Out vs. Clippers With Back Injury
Friday, Jan. 16
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Kevin Love haven't had the season anyone expected—thanks in large part to injuries constantly derailing the All-Star forward.
According to ESPN's Dave McMenamin, Love is dealing with another injury, this time to his back:
Love's transition to being one of multiple stars on a team instead of being "The Man," as he was in Minnesota, has had its rough patches. His scoring average went down from November to December, though his rebounds went up from 8.6 to 10.7 per game during that stretch, per Basketball-Reference.com.
However, Love stepped up when LeBron James was out with knee and back ailments over an eight-game stretch in late December and early January. One of his best games of the season came on January 2 against Charlotte when he scored 27 points and grabbed five rebounds in the only game Cleveland won without LeBron.
Given how careful the Cavaliers have been in protecting LeBron this season, you can expect them to take a similar approach with Love. Cleveland head coach David Blatt admitted when it looked like Love suffered a knee injury against Charlotte that he's more on edge than usual, via The Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com):
"Every time I see somebody fall down or bend over to fix their shoelaces, I'm a little worried right now—I really am," Blatt said. "We're a little bit on eggshells as far as that stuff is concerned."
Love missed one game earlier in the year with back spasms. The Cavaliers can't afford to lose any of their major pieces for too long, especially with the Eastern Conference looking stronger at the top than expected. Cleveland is still capable of going on a long winning streak, but it needs to get healthy to do so.
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