Kevin Love reveals biggest playoff difference between Heat, Cavs stints

With the Cavs, Love was a part of teams that featured their main star in current Los Angeles Lakers player LeBron James and another in Kyrie Irving. They won a championship in 2016 despite being down 3-1 in the series to the high-powered Golden State Warriors.

After time has passed with Cleveland, Love was acquired by the Heat through the buyout market and has since been a key player in the rotation. In the interview with The Sun Sentinel, he said that Miami is “always been a team that competes,” though he admits enjoying “the feeling of being the hunter.”

“Here, even in my 16th year in the league, Miami’s always been a team that competes,” Love said with Game 4 against the Boston Celtics slated for Monday night. “They’ve never out of it. But I do like the feeling of being the hunter, as well…We had so much expectation, and we were expected to go to the Finals, if not win, so definitely having that kind of change of expectation or identity definitely brings a whole different look and feel to a playoff run.”

Since being acquired by the Heat, they made the NBA Finals last season in a miraculous run that had them at the eighth seed and beat the No. 1 and 2 seeds in the Milwaukee Bucks and the Boston Celtics, plus a series win against the New York Knicks. Love is looking to make the same impact and has been despite being in the twilight years of his career at 35-years old.

Spoelstra talks about Love’s lack of playing time for Heat in playoffs

However, playing time has come rare in this current playoff series against the Celtics where he played in 13 minutes in Game 1 and in the next two outings, only saw 10 minutes combined of time of contribution on the floor. Especially in the ugly Game 3 loss, Thomas Bryant got the usual backup minutes to Adebayo as Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra explained he was “looking for a spark” since the Heat were down by 20 points.

“I was looking for a spark once we got down 20,” Spoelstra said after the game in response to the four minutes Love played in Game 3. “This is not an indictment on anybody. Things move fast in a playoff series. It was tough to get a read on anything when we were playing out of that hole for most of three quarters.”

Love talks staying ready despite lack of minutes 

Love addressed the lack of playing time, but like the veteran he is, he understands the decision as the matchup against the Celtics exposes the flaws of his game. He would say that it’s one of those situations where they have a “conversation” about it “or it’s unspoken.”

“I think it’s on me just to stay ready, whether it’s plug minutes or a longer stint or just understanding that this is a team that you have to switch against a lot,” Love said Sunday. “I think naturally that plays to a lot of guys’ strengths and there’s certain lineups where we do that, whether we go small or plug [Nikola Jovic] in at the five, I just think that they’ve in some ways, whether it be offensive rebounding or finding shots in the corner from three, have been able to take advantage of our zone.”

“It’s something that we either have the conversation or it’s unspoken, or I understand this type of scenario,” Love continued via The Sun Sentinel. “It’s not unlike last year. I played, I think, the first three and then we kind of inserted Haywood (Highsmith) into the next four games and ended up winning in seven games.”

Love admits matchup problem against the Celtics

Love would go more into detail in why Boston is one of the few teams where the Heat star can’t play the most against as he mentioned that chasing players like Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown who are fast coming off screens isn’t “always been in my bag.”

“Certainly on the offensive end I know what I’m capable of and I know I can take advantage of that,” Love said. “I think chasing those guys off of screens and switching hasn’t always been in my bag. I think I can be effective in different scenarios but they are a team that poses a lot of problems. and that’s why theyve been ni some aspects ans some ways historically at the top of offensive output. It’s some4thing that we either have the conversation or it’s unspoken like I understand that this type of scenario not unlike last year where I played the first three and then we inserted Haywood [Highsmith] into the next four games and ended up winning in seven games.”

Fans will see if Love continues to get a lack of playing time or a boost in them as Miami will look to tie the series at two wins a piece in Game 4. It will take place Monday night inside the Kaseya Center as it is truly a must-win if the Heat want to make this a competitive series.