featured-image

Kevin Love Returns To Minnesota

For a player who spent six seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kevin Love was all about business prior to Saturday’s game at the Target Center – this time as a visitor.

“(I’m) getting adjusted to that visitor’s locker room,” Love joked before the game. “It’s a little different. Hopefully (we) go out and get 10 in a row.”

“It’s going to be a little different… I had a lot of fun in my six years , now I’m in my first year in Cleveland and we’re trying to put together a winning streak.”

Love is arguably the second-best player in franchise history, behind one Kevin Garnett, and did some remarkable things for the Timberwolves, including representing them as a starter in last year’s All-Star Game.

“I would hope they would acknowledge what he did when he was here. There are going to be some fans that are upset. ... Fans have the right to do what they want,” head coach Flip Saunders said. "Fans boo me and that's part of what we do and what we sign up for when we get into this profession. I believe that the people that have basketball knowledge know how good he was when he was here and I'm sure that they'll acknowledge that.”

The question being asked all week has revolved around how the sold-out crowd would acknowledge Love during his first game back at the Target Center. Saunders noted earlier this season that Minnesota fans are extremely loyal and when rumors came out this summer that Love had voiced Minnesota might not be in his future, it might have upset a few Wolves fans.

“I’m sure there will be some boos rather than a mix of cheers,” Love said. “… I’ve been through situations like this before whether in college or high school.”

Love, though, does still keep in contact with current Wolves players. He hasn’t been in town for long with Cleveland playing on Friday night, but he was able to see a few of his former teammates.

“It's good to see [Nikola Pekovic] is back. I talk to Kevin Martin still and many of the players on this team,” Love said. “I forged a lot of great relationships and had a lot of good time here. It's too bad the time is short lived here coming off a back to back.” 

Love also said he will chat with owner Glen Taylor before the game, a person he hasn’t talked to since the trade went down.

New Team, New Role

This season in Cleveland, Love’s role has changed a bit. He’s the team’s third option offensively after being Minnesota’s top threat for the better part of those six seasons. This season, Love is averaging 17.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. That’s about nine points and two rebounds less than what Love averaged last season.

“It’s obviously a sacrifice,” Love said. “LeBron [James] is obviously one of if not the best player in the world and Kyrie [Irving] has stepped up and played phenomenally this year. We have different players now with [Timofey Mosgov] holding down the inside, Tristan Thompson coming off the bench with [Anderson Varejao] going down, [Iman Shumpert] has been awesome, [Matthew Dellavedova], JR Smith. We've got guys throughout our lineup that do a lot of different things. It's basically just playing for one another and really just trying to go out there and win basketball games.”