Sunday was a rough day for the Boston Celtics. Not only did their season come to an end in the form of a 101-93 Game 4 loss at home to the Cavaliers, but the team might have cost itself the opportunity to sign Kevin Love this offseason, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.
Why it matters that the Cavaliers had Kevin Love’s back
The Cavaliers may have lost Kevin Love for an extended period due to injury in Game 4 against the Celtics, but they also may have gained a better chance of keeping him beyond this year.
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Love, who can opt out of his contract after the season, dislocated his left shoulder in the first quarter after becoming tangled with Celtics forward Kelly Olynyk while the two were chasing after a loose ball. There are fears he will miss a minimum of two weeks, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst.
Naturally, Love is angry. Participating in playoff games in the reason he came to Cleveland, and now he may have to sit out.
"I thought it was a bush-league play," Love said Sunday when asked about the injury. "I have no doubt in my mind that he did it on purpose."
Which is why the play could end up being a costly one for the Celtics, who, according to Wojnarowski, "had closed the gap on the Los Angeles Lakers" as a possible destination for Love this offseason.
“It is only natural that if Love lost something significant in Boston - his season, for instance - embracing a free-agent move to the Celtics could be complicated, if not completely compromised. Love left the Garden with legitimate loathing of the Celtics on Sunday, and how that lasts could shape the future of the Cavaliers and Celtics.”
If the Celtics are hurting their chances, who is helping them? Wojnarowski writes that Sunday could have actually helped the Cavaliers’ odds.
Something else happened, too, on Sunday and maybe it turns out to be a benefit for Cleveland's partnership with Love: The Cavs had his back. They went a little crazy, but they had his back. Kendrick Perkins leveled Jae Crowder on a screen, and J.R. Smith floored Crowder with a hellacious backhand to his face. They tried to hurt the Celtics back, and that doesn't happen much in the NBA anymore.
Why the Cavaliers having Love’s back matters
That’s obvious. Having teammates willing to stand up for you is what every NBA player wants. It shows that they respect Love and they’re willing to go out on a limb for him. This is one of the first times Love has felt that way this year, which means perhaps a corner has been turned.
Maybe we're finally past silly debates about Love's MVP preference and what LeBron James means when he says "fit in." Maybe experiencing the intensity of the playoffs was just what Love needed. Teams take time to mesh. Love certainly wouldn't be the first player to slowly grasp a new situation and role, and as we saw with Chris Bosh in Miami, how things look at the start doesn't always matter. People change, and their motivations do, too.
This is Love’s first taste of the playoffs and what comes with it. That taste can be often be addictive, and it might not be one Love wants to leave behind. As Wojnarowski writes:
The best chance the Cavaliers had of re-selling Love on a Cavaliers future had been this postseason. He never knew the feeling of winning in the playoffs, nor how things could change once he started making plays in the postseason. If people started to see Love as a winning player making winning plays - not merely an individual chasing stats and endorsements - perhaps that would influence Love about how he feels about his role in that Cleveland system, about his fit in the environment. Around the Cavaliers, there has been a sense of separation this year. Love never seemed fully integrated into the team, nor it with him.
Questions for Round 2
Why the Cavaliers having Love’s back doesn’t matter
Because it doesn’t erase everything that’s happened this season. All the silly talk about who Love thinks is MVP and what LeBron means when he says “fit in” still could matter. Love has clearly not been happy this year in Cleveland.
Once considered one of the best players in the league, he's been turned into a spot-up shooter this year. Love wants to win, but does he want to do so if it comes with him playing the Robert Horry role?
A few shoves can’t alone make up for an entire season’s worth of data. It might make Love feel good now, but when the season comes to an end and he’s forced to sit down and decide what he wants to do, will he side with being a role player and official team scapegoat over heading out west to Los Angeles and becoming the man for the retooling Lakers?
Likelihood (5/10)
At this point, it’s too early to make any sweeping declarations. Sunday’s game could have helped Cleveland’s chances, but an upcoming loss might hurt them. We have a long way to go here and a lot can happen between now and the end of the season.
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