SAN ANTONIO _ One person who was part of the Cavaliers' heated team meeting before Monday's practice characterized it as an accountability session.
Another put it under the heading of "families fight."
The dizziness and migraine that forced Kevin Love out of Saturday's home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder after three minutes, prompted him to leave the arena before the game ended and kept him home the following day was the trigger for a confrontation in the locker room at Cleveland Clinic Courts, as ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Monday night.
But when asked Tuesday morning if he felt like a target, Love said, "I think everybody, most people were a target."
Coach Tyronn Lue said he didn't need to hear from Love what happened before and during Saturday's game against the Thunder, that he had already been informed by trainer Steve Spiro. Love told the media Monday that he first felt ill on the way to Quicken Loans Arena.
"He couldn't play in the game, he had dizziness and light headedness, migraine before the game," Lue said. "Steve said he was gonna try to play and he tried to give it a go. He couldn't go, so we got him out of the game. The next day he was still feeling the same way, and Steve communicated that to me, and he was out."
Lue called it crazy that Love would have been pinpointed after the Cavs gave up a franchise-record 148 points to the Thunder in the 24-point loss.
"If Kevin was out there we might have given up 170," Lue said. "Who knows, man. We've got to be better, got to just stay together. We're being tested right now. This is when your true character comes out and the character of who you are as a person and as a player. We've got to step up and play basketball."
Lue said he spoke during the meeting and his message was "It's not about one person, it's about all of us."
"If the training staff says Kevin's sick and he's out, he's sick and he's out, I don't think anyone on our team is a doctor, none of the players," Lue said before shootaround for Tuesday night's game against the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center. "You can't speak for what the training staff says.
"Throughout the course of the season, he's human, everyone's human. There's going to be other guys that get sick and be down and out, too. We've got to more forward, move past that and we've got to try to get on track as far as winning basketball games."
Love didn't want to make the himself the focus, even though Wojnarowski's report centered around him.
"We just had a meeting, we aired any grievances we had and we're going to move forward," Love said. "Hopefully we'll be better for it. We have been in the past.
"We're trying to figure this thing out. People hold themselves to a very high standard on this team and we're a team that feels like we can compete at the highest level. For us, it's not about me. I'm not going to make it about myself. I'm sure with other guys it's the same thing. Biggest thing is moving forward. For me, the thing I've always done is kept my mouth shut and I continue to work hard and try to do best for the Cavs. That's all I can do tonight and moving forward these last 35, 40 games."
The Cavs (27-18) have lost nine of their past 12 going into the game against the Spurs, who will be without Pau Gasol (right wrist sprain), Rudy Gay (right heel bursitis), Manu Ginobili (right thigh contusion) and Kawhi Leonard (right quadriceps). Cavs star LeBron James needs seven points to reach 30,000 for his career. So there were reasons to be motivated before what happened Monday.
Former Cavs general manager David Griffin often observed that the team thrives in chaos, which could bode well going forward.
"Living in chaos, I don't like that. Some of these guys do, but we've just got to be better," Lue acknowledged.
James didn't want to talk about the meeting and completely avoided the question when asked about Griffin's take.
"We have an opportunity to play some really good ball tonight against a very good team. So we should take that challenge," James said.
That won't stop the headlines of dysfunction trumpeting the Cavs' woes.
"I'm numb to it by this point," Love said. "I've seen it before. Dysfunction, we've been to three straight Finals. We've been able to thrive under a certain amount of chaos at some point. The good thing about us is we've gotten better throughout the course of seasons and we've peaked at the right time. We're hoping that it's not any different. We hope that we can all come together and be better. We'll see."
Both Love and Lue hope the clear-the-air meeting can clear the way for a focus on the Cavs' myriad on-court issues.
"I don't know if it was needed, but now we gotta do something about it," Lue said. "Do a lot of talking, but we gotta play better, we gotta execute better offensively, we gotta execute better defensively. We gotta be better collectively. And it's one through 15, one through eight on the coaching staff."
Love hopes the meeting brings about a reversal of the Cavs' fortunes.
"Even if it's directed at me or at anybody else, you just hope that it helps and that we can get better from it," Love said. "Maybe yesterday was a really good thing for us, you never know. Moving forward we hope that we can put it behind us and continue to get better. We have a lot of talent here. We feel like we're too good to be on the kind of streak we're on now. Hopefully we can right this ship, if not tonight, we hope it is tonight, but going back home to Cleveland."
The Cavs have been blown out in three of their past six games, prompting calls for changes to the lineup and rotations. Much of the fans' wrath has been directed at Lue. Rumors swirl about potential trades before the Feb. 8 deadline, even though the Cavs are short on assets. The Cavs' defensive efficiency has slipped to 29th in the league and their energy and effort lacking across the board.
With an impetuous owner like Dan Gilbert, organizational changes are never outside the realm.
"I think the communication is so key. Whether it's something either being buried or something not coming to the surface or just having that communication every day I think that things need to be transparent on any end. It's not just like you mentioned front office changes or coaches or players. It's everybody," Love said. "I think that's something we can all be better at and in some cases can reflect how we play on the court.
"Hopefully what transpires on the court from here on out and moving forward, we're hoping it's better. Sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better. We hope that's not the case. You guys have seen us at our highest level. We're pretty good. We feel like we can get better, but we need to right this ship. February is right around the corner and from there it goes pretty fast."
