Cleveland Cavaliers All-Star forward Kevin Love was held out of Sunday night’s Game 7 win over the Boston Celtics due to concussion protocol. The former UCLA standout banged heads with Celtics rookie Jayson Tatum in Game 6, as most hoops fans know by now.
With protocol still in place, the NBA excused Love from Wednesday’s Finals Media Day in Oakland.
Love’s status for Game 1 of the NBA Finals is still up in the air, according to most accounts. Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue elected to give Jeff Green a starting nod in Love’s place on Sunday night — a decision that paid off in a big way. Green racked up 19 points and eight rebounds in Cleveland’s 87-79 victory.
Needless to say, Love is an extremely important part of Cleveland’s game plans. In his 17 playoff appearances with the Cavs this season, the 6-10 double-double machine has recorded averages of 13.9 points on 38.8 percent shooting from the field (34.6 percent from beyond the arc), 10 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 31.0 minutes per.
The NBA’s concussion protocol program is quite strict, as it should be. A player in the concussion protocol program can’t return to the floor until passing the following steps:
– He is without concussion-related symptoms at rest.
– He has been evaluated by a physician.
– He has successfully completed the NBA return-to-participation exertion protocol (stationary bike, jogging, non-contact team drills, etc).
– A team physician has discussed the return-to-participation process and decision with the Director of the NBA concussion program, Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher.
With each step, a player must be symptom free to move on to the next step. If a player is not symptom free after any step, he stops, then begins again at the previous step of the protocol.
Whether or not K-Love will be available to play in Game 1 of the Finals remains to be seen. We’ll try to keep you updated as more information becomes available.
