Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love has gone viral for all the wrong reasons.
It happened with 33 seconds left in Monday’s road loss to the Toronto Raptors, with 33 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
That’s when an official tossed the ball to Love so that Love could throw it inbounds. Instead, Love batted it away, right into the hands of the Raptors. Then Love sort of casually walked away.
Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff immediately shouted at Love. It was a boneheaded and immature act from a veteran player who is supposed to be a leader. Love had just been shoved from behind while battling for a rebound. No call.
But he would have been better off screaming at the refs and getting a technical. Willingly handing the ball to the opponent in what was still a close game … well, that has no place in sports.
Bickerstaff could offer no explanation to the media when asked about the play.
“You’ll have to ask Kevin,” Bickerstaff said. “We talked about it. He apologized to his teammates for it and we’ll move on.”
Cavs guard Darius Garland was the closest Love teammate to the play. Garland is having a banner season, and in just his second season, is looking to Love as someone who won a championship and should be leading the way.
This wasn’t that.
“I didn’t see it,” Garland said. “I was trying to get my defender off me. It’s probably on social media, so when I get on the bus I’m probably (going to) look. Something like that happens, we just have to get on to the next play.
“That was just a little breakdown that he had, it was nothing serious. He got whacked on one end and he got whacked on the defensive end and they didn’t call it. He just got frustrated, that was it.”
The Cavs (21-40) have gone through a frustrating stretch of injuries and ineffectiveness with just a few weeks left in the season. As it stands, they have lost 13 of 17.
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