Love is a battlefield

On a truly bonkers day of NBA news, the capper was the piece de resistance: ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the tailspinning Cavaliers had an emotional team meeting on Monday as, and I quote, “several players challenged the legitimacy of Kevin Love’s illness that led him to leave Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma City early and miss Sunday’s practice.”

Per Joe Vardon, the issue seems to be not that Love pulled himself from the game — it’s that he left the arena and went home. Woj also reported that Love explained himself — no word on what he had to say other than “dudes, I was sick and unable to work, usually when that happens people go home” — and the team largely accepted his explanation.

Love as a target of ire when he’s been the least of Cleveland’s on-court problems is interesting, though Vardon reports that just about every Cavalier got a page in the verbal burn book at this meeting. (Leave Jeff Green alone!) Love’s always seemed to have more of a business relationship with the broader team than anything else. The exception was Kyrie Irving; the two seemed to be actual friends. Perhaps that is causing the continued bad blood.

Whatever the case, these guys need to figure it out or they are staring down a far more difficult than necessary playoff path in the East.

SAC 107, CHA 112
UTA 90, ATL 104
MIA 90, HOU 99
PHI 101, MEM 105
PHX 105, MIL 109
CHI 128, NOP 132 (2OT)
WAS 75, DAL 98
POR 101, DEN 104
MIN 126, LAC 118

The Bucks fired Jason Kidd on Monday. This move was both abrupt and obvious. No one actually expected the Bucks to handle this midseason because Kidd reportedly has strong personal relationships with members of the ownership team. I guess they weren’t strong enough. Fans have been questioning Kidd’s acumen for some time now, and he did feel like the coach in the most tenuous position. It all reached a head on Monday. Joe Prunty, a longtime Kidd assistant, takes over.

Kidd made it weird, too. Instead of the usual “good luck, arseholes!” statement fired coaches give the media, Kidd actually talked to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, claiming that Giannis Antetokounmpo called to talk about the decision before the Bucks even notified Kidd he was being let go.

Kidd also said that Antetokounmpo offered to try to save Kidd’s job but that the wise coach told him it was fait accompli. Basically, the first thing Kidd did when he got in front of the media was to disclose a private, emotional conversation with the team’s star player. Kidd owes the Bucks no loyalty at this point, but he does owe Antetokounmpo the courtesy of not throwing him into the mud with the organization.

In a wild twist, it happens to be the Bucks’ Twitter birthday — an anniversary of when the Bucks created their Twitter account years ago — so when you went to their feed you were greeted with colorful balloons cascading down over the headline that the Bucks had relieved Kidd of his duties. Welp!

In a story quickly overshadowed by the other news of the day, ESPN reported that the relationship between Kawhi Leonard and the Spurs has grown cold and distant during his injury recovery. Sorry Spurs, I don’t have time for this. Call me when there are fisticuffs or at least a loud locker room argument. I’d even take a snide social media post. Give me something or you’re staying on the back burner.

Damian Lillard had a secret one-on-one with Blazers franchise owner Paul Allen last week to express his concerns about the direction of the franchise. Portland lost a critical game to Denver on Monday.

Meanwhile, Kevin Durant — the least self-aware man in basketball, apparently — said Clint Capela isn’t qualified to talk about the Warriors because his job is so easy. Says the guy who joined a 73-win team as a free agent.

In actual basketball news: DeMarcus Cousins put up 44-24-10 to lead the Pelicans to their double-OT win over the Bulls. When the dude is on, he is really on. LeBron called it “super sick” on Twitter, and I’m somewhere between 60 and 110 percent sure that’s a Love call-out and/or joke.

What a finish! Blake Griffin double-dribbled and threw the ball out of bounds on successive crunch time possessions, and the Clippers’ top two coaches got ejected in the process, leaving Sam Cassell in charge for all of seven seconds. Amazing.

I wrote about why the Cavaliers absolutely cannot trade the Nets pick ... unless they protect it. Luka Doncic is too special.

Shouts to the Wizards for having a players-only meeting everyone acknowledged was completely counterproductive and then getting trucked by one of the worst teams in the league. Then sweet little J.J. Barea poured salt all over the wound.

Michael Jordan claims he doesn’t want to trade Kemba Walker and would only move him in a deal for a “major All-Star.”

Potential prototype for the All-Star uniforms leaked. Umm ...

By the way, the All-Star reserves will be announced at 7 p.m. ET on TNT, just before Cavaliers-Spurs (where LeBron should become the youngest player ever to score 30,000 points) and Celtics-Lakers. Full schedule here.

Be excellent to each other.