Kevin Love and the Cleveland Cavaliers lost three times in four meetings with the Brooklyn Nets back in the regular season, but the Cavs veteran knows that all that is water under the bridge once the playoff kicks off. The Cavs will be squaring off with Brooklyn in the play-in tournament in the Eastern Conference this coming Tuesday at Barclays Center, with Love sounding a bit cautious of what his team is about to go through, per Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.
“It’s easier said than done, but just play free and understanding the level of physicality is going to be heightened and there’s nothing quite like being in a playoff atmosphere and experiencing that. You don’t know it, don’t understand it until you go through it.”
Love adds:
“The thing that we have on our side is we are all so tight and we all stick together through everything. J.B. likes to say win the scrap and all our battles are won in the trenches. We have that familiarity with them and we know what they’re capable of, especially with their two superstars.”
Love was in the groove in the Cavs’ final game of the regular season, dropping 32 points with 10 rebounds in a throwback performance in a 133-115 home win over the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday. That victory also ended the Cavs’ three-game losing skid, a stretch that included a 118-107 loss to the Nets in Brooklyn on Apr. 8.
