The Cleveland Cavaliers fell flat in Game 6 against the Indiana Pacers, falling victim in a blowout loss at the hands of Victor Oladipo and company.
Fortunately for LeBron James and his team, there is another opportunity to close out the series with Game 7 at home in Cleveland, but in short, no one with the Cavaliers can feel particularly comfortable with the way the team performed in a close-out situation on Friday evening.
While James put together a solid individual performance with 22 points, seven assists and five rebounds in 31 minutes, he received little help from Cleveland’s supporting cast, including a seven-point performance from fellow All-Star Kevin Love. To that end, James was asked about Love after Game 6, who has battled injury issues throughout the campaign, and he addressed things head-on.
LeBron with some thoughts on what the Cavs need from Kevin Love in game 7…. (via @SLAMonline) https://t.co/dLz1uStaSI
— Complex Sports (@ComplexSports) April 28, 2018
“He’s a huge part of our success or our non-success,” James said concerning Love. “We try to go to him. We want to go to him. Obviously we can’t make the shots for him, he has to step up and knock those down. Those things you can’t control. The shot-making. You’re going to have games where you can’t make shots or games you can make shots. But we have to continue to let him know how important he is to our success. If we want to have any success in Game 7 or to move on to the next round, Kev has to be a big part of that.”
While James wasn’t necessarily over-the-top in criticizing Love, the message is clear in that the Cavs need more from their second-best player in order to emerge victorious in a winner-take-all scenario. Love has struggled mightily from an efficiency standpoint in the series, entering Game 6 shooting 33 percent before making only three of his 10 attempts, and while he isn’t the only member of Cleveland’s supporting cast who is struggling, he will likely catch the most heat (outside of James himself) in the event of a loss.
Love is more than capable of putting together an explosive performance with Cleveland’s season on the line, and with what LeBron said at the podium after Game 6, he will be under pressure to do just that.
