Amid all the turmoil and disarray plaguing Cleveland, a somewhat unlikely scapegoat emerged. The Cavs held what has been characterized as a highly-volatile players-only meeting in recent days, during which Isaiah Thomas allegedly led the charge against Kevin Love for his absence over the weekend as he was dealing with migraine symptoms, levying accusations that the All-Star forward wasn’t as ill as he made himself out to be.
Love logged just over three minutes of action in their embarrassing loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, during which the Cavs and their porous defense gave up a franchise-worst 148 points on their home floor. It’s led to all sorts of speculation about whether Love might be on the trading block as the February deadline looms.
But at least one person in the organization has Love’s back. Well, sort of. Head coach Tyronn Lue was quick to defend Love for missing time over the weekend, but in the process, he inadvertently underscored his struggles on the defensive end.
Via Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com:
Lue said he didn’t need to hear any explanation from Love — trainer Steven Spiro told Lue about Love’s migraine symptoms that apparently lingered Sunday — and Lue said being angry with Love after giving up a franchise-record 148 points was misguided.
“I mean, that’s crazy,” Lue said. “If Kevin was out there we might have given up 170. Who knows, man. We’ve got to be better, got to just stay together. We’re being tested right now. This is when your true character comes out and the character of who you are as a person and as a player. We’ve got to step up and play basketball.”
Lue probably didn’t intend to insinuate that Love’s well-documented defensive woes would’ve made things even worse against the Thunder, but that’s precisely what makes Freudian slips so interesting. Love, to his credit, has been a consummate professional throughout the whole ordeal, but there is still plenty of drama to be had.
If you want to have a field day over-analyzing things, there’s Love’s recent admission that he wouldn’t mind being on the same All-Star squad as Klay Thompson, along with the fact that LeBron, as one of the captains, has apparently not given him any assurances that he’ll draft him for his own team.
Regardless, there will be plenty to talk about between now and the trade deadline when it comes to Cleveland, whether Love is involved in rumors or not.
