Cavs All-Star forward Kevin Love missed a significant chunk of the regular season after fracturing his hand during a late January game against the Detroit Pistons. He was out nearly two months, which coincided with arguably the most difficult stretch of the season as the team was reeling from a combination of losses and locker-room turmoil.
He returned to action for the new-look Cavs last month but suffered another ugly injury when he got a tooth knocked out in a game against the Heat and had to be placed on the league-mandated concussion protocol.
Love was able to recover in time for the start of the postseason, but he suffered another injury in Game 2 against the Pacers on Wednesday night, this time to thumb on the same hand he broke earlier in the season. Beware, it’s not for the faint of heart.
Kevin Love's thumb is not supposed to bend like that https://t.co/qJWHv22X4O
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) April 19, 2018
Cleveland was able to get back on track against Indiana with a much-needed 100-97 win in Game 2, but they’ll need a healthy Love in tow if they are to have any chance of making it out of a vastly improved Eastern Conference field. The good news is coach Tyronn Lue referred to the injury as just a jammed thumb and expects Love to be fine for Game 3.
Ty Lue says that Kevin Love is good to play in Game 3. Just had a jammed thumb. He didn’t go back in the game because Lue liked the flow of the team he had on the floor. https://t.co/NWOPYnybp5
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 19, 2018
Considering how bad it looked initially, that’s very good news for the Cavs as they need Love in what’s already a very competitive first round series.
