CLEVELAND: Before the Cavaliers took the floor for Game 3 on Wednesday, both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving made a point of reaching out to Kevin Love in the locker room. They both told him they’d win the game for him, which they ultimately did with the team’s best performance in the series.
Now the Cavs enter Friday’s pivotal Game 4 with a chance to even the series 2-2.
“I just seen it on his face [Wednesday] when we were all in the locker room, and it was that, ‘I hate-that-I’m going-through-this-moment, I-feel-like-I’m-letting-you-guys-down’ moment without him actually even saying it,” James said of Love. “So before we left the locker room, I know Kyrie embraced him. I did as well. Told him, ‘Don’t worry about it. We’ve got him tonight.’ … I know it was uplifting to him for sure, and it was for our team as well.”
Love is expected to be cleared from the league’s concussion protocol on Friday and is likely to come off the bench in Game 4, league sources told the Beacon Journal. Warriors center Andrew Bogut missed two weeks after suffering a concussion earlier this season.
“There’s probably people calling Kevin Love soft,” Bogut said. “Those people are idiots.”
The league implemented its concussion protocol in recent years in an effort to take brain injuries more seriously.
“You don’t mess around with the brain,” Bogut said. “You can be a hero now in the NBA Finals in 2016, and in 2021 you will be sucking food through a straw and you won’t give a [expletive] about what you did in 2016.”
Apology needed?
If Love is cleared to play Friday, the Warriors’ Harrison Barnes wasn’t sure if he will say something about Barnes’ blow with his forearm/elbow that led to Love’s concussion.
“I don’t think he thought I did it maliciously,” Barnes said. “I’m trying to go for the rebound or whatever. But if he felt that kind of way, yeah, I might say something to him.”
Asked if he generally speaks to an opponent in these instances, Barnes said, “I don’t think it was that serious.”
Another slow start
Steph Curry struggled until the fourth quarter of Game 3 during last year’s NBA Finals and now he’s scuffling again. But this time, Curry said the situation is different. Curry is averaging 16 points in this series and has yet to score even 20 in any of the three games for the first time in his playoff career.
“Game 1 this year, I just didn’t make any shots,” Curry said. “It was kind of a different flow in that game. Game 2 is foul trouble. I wasn’t out there for the same amount of minutes. … Last night was a struggle again [with] foul trouble and kind of dealing with that, but also not being as aggressive as I needed to be. I don’t know what the reason was for that and it won’t be that in Game 4.”
Warriors coach Steve Kerr isn’t concerned with Curry’s struggles and said he doesn’t need to give the reigning Most Valuable Player any advice.
“One of the great things with Steph is he’s so grounded. He understands how this process works,” Kerr said. “If you are in the limelight and you’re the one doing the commercials and getting trophies, then you’re also in the cross hairs. That’s the way it works.
“We’re on the biggest stage and he’s had a couple of tough games, so the criticism will come and he’ll handle it fine. That’s what he does.”
Not dirty
Klay Thompson suffered a thigh bruise during the first quarter Wednesday when he ran into a screen set by Timofey Mozgov. Thompson couldn’t figure out why Mozgov was trying to set a screen in the middle of the lane and thought it was a dirty play, but coach Tyronn Lue on Thursday disagreed.
“Timo was running in to set a [screen] and at the same time the ball handler was moving going forward,” Lue said. “He just tried to stop and they ended up running into each other. But I wouldn’t say it was a dirty play.”
On Thursday, Thompson backed off a little on his accusation that Mozgov tried to hurt him intentionally by sticking out his knee.
“As I watched the replay, it might have just been bad luck, too,” Thompson said. “A knee to the thigh never feels good. I mean, I don’t think he meant to do it maliciously, but usually when someone sets a screen, you usually do it with your chest or something. But I’m not going to hold a grudge. It’s basketball. Just got to play through it and just get right. I’ll be good for tomorrow.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.