Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland had the chance to reflect on the impact now-Miami Heat forward Kevin Love made on the organization and on Garland himself, wrote Cleveland.com Cavs reporter Chris Fedor in a Wednesday article.
“Always some good conversations with him, but some hard ones as well,” Garland said. “About basketball and life. There was one my rookie year when I was going through some tough times. It was about basketball. But I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to share it. He taught me a lot. I learned a lot from him.”
The “gist” of the lesson, wrote Fedor, was to always “stay the course.”
“That’s what (Kevin Love) always told me,” Garland said. “When I first came in it was a pretty tough road to go down. He always just told me, ‘Stay the course, keep your head high, there are going to be good days ahead.'”
Kevin Love earned his place in Cleveland history with his contributions on and off the court for the Cavs. Along with orchestrating a crucial stop in the 2016 NBA Finals against Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, Love became a champion of mental health with hefty donations, player essays and by changing the lives of Cleveland residents and beyond, as told through personal stories in a Wednesday article from SB Nation site manager Chris Manning.
Kevin Love was listed as “probable” before Wednesday’s game in Miami after playing in six games for the Heat. He earned as many as earning 13 points and 13 rebounds in a late-February matchup against the Charlotte Hornets.
Garland made a personal plan going into the matchup against Miami.
“Make him guard,” Garland told cleveland.com. “Come get on this island. I’m going right at him.”
The Cavs will tip off against the Heat at 7:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday in Miami-Dade Arena. The game will be broadcasted on Bally Sports Ohio.