Is Kevin Love a “Star” If He Does Not Start in Finals?

The Cavaliers head into Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday night with a chance to tie the series at two and give themselves a realistic shot at upsetting the Golden State Warriors.

It’s no secret that one of the biggest factors of the Cavs’ 120-90 win in Game 3 was the move to start Richard Jefferson at small forward and LeBron James at the four, which helped to limit the impact of Warriors forward Draymond Green.

Of course if Kevin Love had not been ruled out due to the NBA’s concussion protocol, who knows how Game 3 would have turned out?

The Cavs played with much more energy, had the home crowd on their side, and received excellent play from LeBron and Kyrie Irving. They shut down Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, along with Green. Maybe they would have won the game either way.

But now Love is expected to play in Game 4 and according to a report from Ohio.com’s Jason Lloyd, he “will likely come off the bench.”

The move would make sense from a matchup standpoint because Jefferson started in Game 3 and it worked. Why fix it if it’s not broken?

No one could be too upset with head coach Tyronn Lue if he decides to start the 35-year-old.

Winning the NBA Finals is the number one priority.

But it’s hard not to wonder what this move says about Love, who was brought here at the price of the number one overall pick, Andrew Wiggins, and signed a five-year contract extension worth $110 million last summer.

Did the Cavs front office envision Love coming off the bench in the biggest stage of his life when they made that commitment to the power forward?

Is a member of a “Big Three” supposed to be relegated to a role player when the stakes are the highest?

Golden State is a bad matchup for Love. Green gives him nightmares.

If the Cavs can’t rely on their star to start in the NBA Finals, does that mean Love’s value is not all it was cracked up to be?

It’s not a cut and dry, yes or no answer, because Love was a valuable member of the team getting this far in the first place.

He played great in all but two of the first 14 playoff games in the Eastern Conference rounds.

But if the Cavs do win the series, people will look back at Game 3, when Jefferson gave the team a lift, as one of the turning points of the Finals. If they win Game 4 with Love on the bench, his removal from the starting lineup will be one of the keys to why they pull off the upset.

If the Cavs lose the series, one of the main factors will be that Love could not contain Green in the first two games and Love did not play like a “star” is expected to in the Finals.

The only sure-fire way for Love to remove doubts of his value is to play well in the rest of the series. Even if he comes off the bench, if Love provides extra-scoring, shoots efficiently, rebounds like he has been all season, and does not get burnt on defense en route to a win, then some of the questions will be answered.

But if the Cavs lose the series 4-1, or lose the series and Love does not make a big impact, the question has to be asked: Why did the Cavs bring him here if he does not make a big impact when it matters most?

We’ll have plenty of time to talk about the future of Love in Cleveland this summer and the most important matter is the task at hand, but the next few games impact the future of Love perhaps more than any individual player on the Cavaliers roster.