CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Cavaliers have been residents of “Strugglesville” since their Christmas Day loss to the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena in Oakland, and have been entrenching themselves in the community ever since.
The Cavaliers (27-19) have lost seven of their last 10 games and 10 of their last 13 heading into tonight’s Central Division showdown against the Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena, and power forward Kevin Love feels the only one way to silence the questions that have been asked about the team as the trade deadline and All-Star Game draw near.
“We’ve got to win tonight,” Love said. “I think things will really settle down, especially being back at home. I know we’ve been on the road quite a bit before this, but I think winning just solves everything. Getting in good film sessions, practice sessions, getting that underneath our belt is all we can do. We chase the game, all the good things will chase us, and at the end of the day, I think that’s what we’re doing.”
Following Tuesday’s 114-102 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue walked back from statements about keeping the starting lineup together, and instead decided to send Jae Crowder to the bench while elevating Tristan Thompson to center and sliding Love back to power forward.
“That was something that we had talked about early on, but this has been our lineup that I guess helped us get to three straight Finals,” Love said. “I still think that I’ll be playing some at the five.
“I think that there will be positions for a number of guys that will be interchangeable, but at least for now, going back to the four. I feel like it’s my natural position, logged a lot of minutes there, and a majority of my minutes there throughout my career, so we’ll see.”
While Love is embracing the move back to his more natural position of power forward, he believes having the experience of playing center will benefit not only him, but the team as well as the second half of the regular season continues.
“I definitely think so because we toyed around with it and had success with it throughout different playoff matchups,” Love said.
“I don’t know if my number will be called. I think we’ll still play with me at the five at some points throughout the regular season and probably tonight, but in the playoffs, I think it could help us to have different lineups out there. Matchups dictate the lineups that could help us down the road.”
