Kevin Love’s emotions got the best of him earlier this week during a game against the Toronto Raptors. Love stood out of bounds and inbounded the ball by casually slapping at it as the referee gave it to him, letting it bounce onto the floor for Stanley Johnson to scoop up. He then opted to walk away from the situation, letting Johnson kick it out to Malachi Flynn for a wide open three.
It was a situation where Love, who is expected to be the leader of the young Cleveland Cavaliers, came out looking pretty bad. But the following day, he apologized to the team, and on Wednesday, Love sat down with the media and addressed everything, taking responsibility and saying that this had nothing to do with his teammates or any sort of disrespect of the game.
Kevin Love started media this morning w/ this: “This will be a therapy session for me right now. First things first…I f’d up. I love this team & I know that I’m a part of something bigger than myself. It wasn’t my intention to disrespect the game or my teammates.” #Cavs
— Angel Gray (@Angel_Gray1) April 28, 2021
Love went on to explain that this was a culmination of frustrations coming to a head, then made clear that he has to start holding himself to a higher standard because he understands his role in Cleveland.
“In that moment I was frustrated about a lot of things: Me not being myself, letting the fans down, dealing with injuries, officials, players out….it was frustrating and that’s how it came out in the moment. #Cavs
— Angel Gray (@Angel_Gray1) April 28, 2021
He wrapped up with: “ I have to be better for these young guys. I love my role in helping the young core. This had nothing to do with the coaches or players….I love those guys and I love Cleveland. I’ll rock w/ CLE until the day I die. I’m sorry.” #Cavs
— Angel Gray (@Angel_Gray1) April 28, 2021
There have been a few moments in the post-LeBron James years in Cleveland where Love’s gotten visibly frustrated on the court, with this being the latest example. He handled the aftermath of this about as well as he could, but he also has to know that he can’t let this stuff happen going forward.