Kevin Love goes back in time and takes top spot for the Cavs against the Heat

Kevin Love is the Cavs top player following the Miami Heat game.

Kevin Love is having a revival season. Sure, his raw stats aren’t that much better this year as opposed to last year but if you look beyond the averages, you’ll see a far more healthy and motivated player.

He’s putting up the same amount of points and rebounds in far fewer minutes, his three-point shooting is finally back to 40%, a number he’s rarely been at in his career, and his advanced stats are impressive.

Last season his offensive and defensive RAPTOR scores were -0.5 and -2.4 respectively. This season it’s turned into a +2.9 and a +0.4. That’s a dramatic turnaround. Not only is his offense improved, but he’s also not making as many mistakes, averaging a career-low 1.1 turnovers per game. As a prolific passer for a big man, turnovers are always a factor to some degree with Love. Never to the point that he’s a hindrance but never to the point he’s this effective.

The Cavs toppled the short-handed Heat 105-94 last night, moving to 17-12 on the year. The Cavs are now the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Now, onto the Top 3. We’re dropping the Three Worst Performers for the time being. With how well the Cavs are playing, there’s not a lot to talk about. So I’ll bring back the three worst performers only on nights that warrant it.

The best from the Cavs extinguishing of the Heat

The Best Three Performers

1. Lauri Markkanen
2. Isaac Okoro
3. Kevin Love

Lauri Markkanen had a quiet game scoring the ball, only posting 12 points and shooting 38%. Defensively, however, he was a hazard for the smaller Heat wings. Markkanen was a huge factor for why Tyler Herro was held to only 12 points. Markkanen also led the Cavs in box+/- with a +21 on the game. So he gets the one pointer for the game.

The two-pointer goes to Isaac Okoro, who finished the day with 18 points, five rebounds, all while shooting 58% from the floor and 50% from three. It’s good to see Okoro have these kinds of games and gives me hope that he can in fact improve as a scorer.

The three-pointer goes to the Cavs king of three-point for the game; Kevin Love. He had 23 points, going 6-10 for the game, with five of those coming from three-point land. Love also had nine rebounds to add to his game. If Love isn’t a sixth-man-of-the-year contender, then we need to rethink the criteria.

Yearly Standing:

1. Jarrett Allen (34 points)
2. Ricky Rubio (25 points)
3. Darius Garland (24 points)
4. Lauri Markkanen (21 points)
5. Cedi Osman (19 points)
6. Kevin Love (18 points)
7. Evan Mobley (14 points)
8. Isaac Okoro (4 points)
9. Dean Wade (3 points)
10. Dylan Windler (1 point)