Kevin Love, once again, passionately apologized for his inbounding tantrum earlier this week, and vehemently re-stated his commitment to the Cavs organization, his teammates, and the city in a 13-minute monologue to the media following shootaround on Wednesday.
“I love Cleveland, I’ll f—— rock with Cleveland ‘til the day I die,” he exclaimed, via Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. “I believe that I’ll come back here, whether anybody’s opinion of me has soured because I haven’t been available or my play this year hasn’t quite been there because I’m off balance, and I’m not able to get in the shape I want to be in because I’m held back, fine. Those can all sound like excuses. But this is just me leaving it all out there. Being truthful and just being Kevin. I mean, at the end of the day, that’s all I can be.”
Late in the third quarter of the Cavs’ 112-96 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Monday, Love’s pent up frustration at the officials — and, as many speculated, the last three years of his career and his situation in Cleveland — was released in embarrassing fashion, as the power forward suddenly quit on his team for a play.
“That wasn’t me,” Love said. “I f—– up, everybody knows that. I love this team. I know that I f—– up. I apologize for that. I don’t go out there meaning to upset anybody, to embarrass myself, to embarrass the organization because I feel like I’m a part of something bigger than myself here.”
Love also apologized to his Cavs teammates in the locker room on Monday. Two days later, he’s still trying to make amends and explain himself.
“My intent wasn’t to disrespect the game. My intent wasn’t even for the damn ball to go inbounds. It was a moment that I got caught up in. I didn’t even really understand what happened as the possession played out. I think I was a little dumbfounded. I even heard a couple of coaches saying the ball wasn’t in. My idea was that I was going to go grab the ball and pass it right back into D.G. (Darius Garland). But that obviously wasn’t the case.”
Love said Wednesday that he didn’t realize how horrible the optics of the play were until Larry Nance Jr. showed him the clip after the game.
The Cavaliers (21-40) host the Orlando Magic (18-43) on Wednesday night. My suggestion? Look away.