Kevin Love left the Cleveland Cavaliers second game against the Indiana Pacers in the first-round of the 2018 NBA playoffs with looked like a finger injury. Love sat on the sidelines and had his finger examined, never returning to the court as the Cavs ended up winning the game to tie up the series at 1-1. Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue said that Love told him that he could have returned to the game if needed but he kept him on the sidelines because the Cavs seemed to be in the zone at the time. Now, Cleveland has offered a huge update on Kevin Love's injury status and his availability for the rest of the playoffs.
Kevin Love's actual injury
It turns out that Kevin Love's injury is worse than just a jammed finger. The Cleveland Cavaliers reported that Love jammed his left thumb when he deflected a pass from Victor Oladipo. It was the same hand that Love broke in January that caused him to miss 21 games towards the end of the regular NBA season.
NBA media reports indicate that Love suffered a partially torn ligament in his left thumb. However, CBS Sports contradicts that report and they say that X-rays were negative on his injured thumb. Love himself said that it hurt "pretty bad" and that he still felt he could have returned to play.
Tyronn Lue said that Kevin Love could have returned and he will play in the Cleveland Cavaliers Game 3 matchup with the Indiana Pacers.
The good news is that the jammed thumb is not on his shooting hand. However, the Cavaliers need better play from Love as the playoffs wear on.
Kevin Love's performance so far
In the first game of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers playoff series, Kevin Love struggled offensively. He only took eight shots and finished the game with nine points, but an impressive 17 rebounds.
He took a lot more shots in Game 2, as Tyronn Lue said he needed to, but only hit five f his 16 attempts. By the time he left with his injury, he had scored 15 points with eight rebounds.
The Cleveland Cavaliers take on the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 on Friday night in a road game. The next two games are both in Indiana and the Cavs need to win at least one of those games, if not both, after giving up the opening round win at home.
LeBron James has been the only star so far for the Cleveland Cavaliers. In the Game 1 loss, LeBron was the only starter to score in double-digits, although two bench players eclipsed that mark. James had a triple-double in the loss. The Cavs won Game 2 by only three points and that was based on a monster 46-point performance by LeBron.
