2016 NBA champion Kevin Love is one series away from winning his second title, this time with the Heat. The 34-year-old veteran is playing a different role that he had on the championship Cavaliers team though.
He has appeared in 16 playoff games, of which he has started 14, for Miami so far this season, averaging 6.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 18 minutes per game.
Depending on the matchups, Love sometimes is given more of a bench role for the Heat and he is fine with that. An example of that was Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in which the power forward did not get any playing time.
“It made perfect sense to honestly,” Love said when asked about accepting the role of supporting his teammates from the bench. “I was eager and wanted to play, kept myself ready, but at the same time, again, those matchups and how they took Williams out of the starting lineup, they decided to go small. That’s how it fades into the matchups and that’s it works within the playoffs.
“I felt I made my impact and at least the first two games and maybe one quarter before I had gotten hurt there. But again just continue to be there for my teammates, be a vocal leader, keep it light between UD, Kyle and myself. Just teach these guys and help them kind of grasp where we’re at as well as.
“I think beauty of it is you get to reset the deck, kind of get to figure out what the matchups are going to look like in this series. It feels really sort of way at all. Again, this is a great group to be a cheerleader for.”
