Cleveland Cavaliers fans look back at the LeBron James years as perhaps the greatest era of Cavs franchise history. During his second stint with his home team, LeBron delivered the title back to the city after 50 long years — and in quite a sensational manner too.
As it turns out, Cavs star Kevin Love also looks back on those years with nothing but fond memories. The five-time All-Star recently sat down with former Cleveland teammate Channing Frye as the pair discussed their conquests alongside LeBron. According to Love, chasing titles became addictive for him:
“We didn’t realize exactly what we had,” Love said, via h/t Bleacher Report on Twitter. “What we had was so special. Like, I look back, and I think when you reach the pinncacle, when you’re at the top, you want that. It’s like watching the last, it’s like a drug. You want that. And you want that every single year. So to come from a situation like you were to come into that and win a championship, it’s life-changing. It’s a life-changing experience.”
Love then went on to talk about the Cavs’ struggles during the regular season. As dominant as they were, Cleveland would occasionally lose to the most random teams. Needless to say, they were not at their best during the regular season, and apparently, they just did not care too much:
“We were the most talented underachieving regular-season team of all time,” Love declared. “Without question. We didn’t care until the playoffs.”
Frye could not have agreed any more. According to the former Cavs big man, their team just didn’t care about losing games during the regular season. This team was more than confident that come playoff time — when it mattered most — that the squad would turn it up a notch. The grind of the regular season just didn’t weigh too heavily on their minds.
That undeniable confidence comes from one fact — that they had LeBron on their team. True enough, under his watch, the Cavs went to four straight NBA Finals. They made history by winning the 2016 title after being down 3-1 in the series against a Golden State Warriors side that set a regular-season record of 73 wins. That, without question, was the greatest achievement of the LeBron era in Cleveland.
Love had a bit of regret in his voice as he opened up about how those were the best years of his life. He also shared how there was so much drama within and around the team, which as it turns out, made their truimphs all the more sweeter:
“Honestly, we were ‘Days of our Lives.’ We had so many storylines. We thrived under chaos. But when it came time, we had fun. And we had the best time. Like, it was the best. I talked to Richard (Jefferson) about it last night — best years of my life.”
At 33, there is no denying that Kevin Love is now in the twilight years of his career. He still has some gas left in the tank, but it won’t be long before the former UCLA standout decides to hang it up. At this point, it is clear that he’s more than happy with what his achieved in his many years in the NBA. He’s an NBA champion and he definitely has LeBron James to thank for that.
