TORONTO _ Kevin Love has met an immovable object, or more accurately two, with the obvious being Toronto Raptors' 7-foot, 265-pound center Jonas Valanciunas.
Cavaliers' five-time All-Star Love is more comfortable playing power forward and he emphatically reiterated that after Tuesday night's overtime victory over the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Air Canada Centre.
But going into Game 2 Thursday night, Cavs coach Tyronn Lue is not giving in. He's sticking with Love at center for floor spacing, saying Wednesday, "Whatever is best for the team is what we're going to do."
Love has not taken well to Lue's plan and it seems to have affected his performance. He's averaging 10.9 points and 9.8 rebounds in eight postseason games, shooting .319 from the field and .385 from 3-point range. His scoring is down from 17.6 points in 59 regular season games, his shooting percentages have dropped from .458 and .415, respectively.
The seven-game first-round series against the Indiana Pacers was extremely physical, with 6-foot-8, 230-pound Thaddeus Young frustrating Love. Love also sprained his left thumb in Game 2 and could still be feeling the effects. Now Love is banging with Valanciunas.
Asked if he'd rather be at power forward, Love said, "It's been my whole career I've played at the 4. I would say absolutely. Ty sees something different and I think offensively once I get myself going we could use that to our advantage. As of right now I need to find some easy buckets. They were right there [Tuesday night] I just couldn't put them down."
Love made 3-of-13 field goals against the Raptors, 1-of-4 from long range, but did contribute 13 rebounds, eight after halftime. But on at least two occasions, Love passed up open shots.
Lue started Tristan Thompson at center in Game 7 against the Pacers with Love at the 4, and Love thought Lue would stick with that lineup. But Lue decided he likes Thompson's energy coming off the bench.
The Cavs had only one day off in between games and Love said he had little time to prepare for the matchup.
"Not a lot. Especially after Game 7, I thought Tristan might start at the 5," Love said Tuesday. "It was really yesterday late afternoon [I found out] I was going to be matched up against Valanciunas one on one."
During the regular season, Love's scoring average (18.2) was higher in the 48 games he started at center than in the 11 games he played at power forward (15.0). His 3-point percentage was better when he was at power forward (.443 to .409), while his field-goal percentage was higher at center (.468 to .410).
Lue explained Wednesday why he likes Love at center against the Raptors.
"I think it spreads the floor out for us," Lue said. "Valanciunas is going to go to help and try to block shots. Kevin is going to have open shots all night. So whatever is best for the team is what we're going to do."
Love also performed well at center in three- and six-point victories over the Raptors on March 21 and April 3, both at Quicken Loans Arena, posting a plus/minus of plus 22. In those two, he averaged 20.5 points, shot .522 from the field and .667 on 3s.
"We played Toronto twice, right? And he played the 5, right?" Lue said, throwing out a 34-point loss in Toronto on Jan. 11, when all the Cavs were abysmal.
Asked the difference now, Lue said, "I think wrestling with big Valanciunas on the offensive glass and post-ups. We've got to do a better job of trying to protect Kevin on those post-ups so he won't get so worn down. He said he got tired around the six-minute mark of that first quarter just from wrestling with Valanciunas.
"But we need Kevin to play the 5 for the spacing and I think it helps us offensively. And showing the tape this morning, their bigs are coming to help. So when J.R. drives or Bron drives or G-Hill drives, their bigs are coming, so we're going to have open shots on the perimeter. We just have to knock them down."
Love might get help from Jeff Green and Thompson on Valanciunas, who scored 21 points with 21 rebounds in Game 1, but went 7-of-19 from the field.
"I can't out-tough him, I'm going to compete against him," Green said Wednesday. "He's not going to go out there and bully me, he's going to have to work hard. But I'm not going to back down from a challenge. I'm going to make that person work hard and I'm going to leave it out there."
Thompson said his strategy on Valanciunas was to work him on both ends.
"He's a big man and I like to use my strength to try and make him uncomfortable," Thompson said. "If I can get him a couple inches off the block and outside of his comfort zone, that's huge for us."
