Kevin Love to Return from Knee Injury vs. Jazz

The Cleveland Cavaliers announced forward Kevin Love will return for Thursday's game against the Utah Jazz:

Love last appeared in a game on Feb. 11 and is returning from a knee injury that required surgery.

This comes after the Cavaliers announced in February he needed "arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body from his left knee."

Injuries have been a concern for Love this season, considering he already dealt with back spasms. What's more, Love played just four postseason games in Cleveland's trip to the 2015 NBA Finals because he suffered a shoulder dislocation.

From a statistical standpoint, this has been the best of Love's three seasons with the Cavaliers. He is averaging 20.0 points and 11.1 rebounds per game and is shooting 38.4 percent from three-point range.

His return for the stretch run comes at a critical time for the defending champions since they are attempting to hold off the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards in the race for the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed. Cleveland is just two games ahead of Boston and 3.5 games ahead of Washington.

While Cleveland has remained in that top spot without Love, it was just 7-6 in 13 games. It is difficult to imagine the team repeating as NBA champions without him because he provides floor spacing for ball-dominant players LeBron James and Kyrie Irving with his shooting, critical rebounding and outlet passes to start the break for those playmakers.

What's more, he adds crucial frontcourt depth alongside Channing Frye, Tristan Thompson and Derrick Williams before the physically grueling postseason.