The Cleveland Cavaliers mightily struggled as a team outside of LeBron James against the Indiana Pacers in the first round, and that’s putting it lightly.
After going for a ride on that first round struggle bus, they currently had the lowest points per game mark after round one, the second-lowest three-point percentage, and second-lowest assists per game mark of teams who made the playoffs, per nba.com.
As the clear second option on Cleveland, Love’s poor play was a large reason for that. I’m not sure how much a partially torn ligament in his left thumb in Game 2 against the Pacers (per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst) had to do with Love’s struggles, but if the Cavs are going to beat Toronto, they need him to produce numbers he’s capable of.