Despite his own optimism that he’d be cleared to play, Kevin Love is reportedly being held out of Game 3 of the NBA Finals because he’s still in the concussion protocol after taking a shot to the head in Game 2.
Kevin Love has been informed that he will not be medically cleared to play in Wednesday night's Game 3, ESPN has learned
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 8, 2016
No announcement has yet been made about who will replace Love in the Cavaliers’ starting lineup, but Cavs beat reporter Jason Lloyd might have a clue.
Meanwhile, Richard Jefferson is last player on practice court this morning getting up shots. And he's wearing a starter's jersey.
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) June 8, 2016
If Richard Jefferson slides into the lineup, that would mean LeBron James would play power forward, which could potentially unlock some more interesting matchups than the ones that got roasted in the first two games of this series.
Love has been horrendous on both ends, repeatedly victimized by Draymond Green in the pick-and-roll while failing to exploit switches in the post. LeBron has compounded that problem by being completely unable to shoot from the outside, which is pretty necessary for a small forward in today’s game. As a power forward with another perimeter shooter on the floor, that problem will be mitigated. Not to mention that LeBron should fare much better against Draymond than Love did.
It’s obviously too early for any pronouncements to be made about Game 4, but considering how close Love ostensibly was to playing on Wednesday night, we’d say he has a good shot to return on Friday night.
