Kevin Love will still start at center in Game 2

TORONTO– Kevin Love may not like starting at the center position, but he’s there to stay in the Eastern Conference semifinals, at least for now.

On Wednesday, Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue told reporters that Love will start at center in Thursday’s Game 2 against the Toronto Raptors.

“Whatever is good for the team is what we’re going to do,” Lue said. “I think it spreads the floor out for us. (Jonas) Valanciunas is going to go to help and try to block shots. Kevin is going to have open shots all night, so, whatever is best for the team is what we’ll do.”

During Game 1, Love struggled on both ends of the floor with Valanciunas, Toronto’s big man. The 7-footer put up 21 points and pulled down 21 rebounds against the Cavs. Eleven of those 21 points came in the 24 possessions that Love guarded him. On the offensive side of the ball, Love missed all of his shots when guarded by Valanciunas. He only got four up during those 20 possessions.

On Tuesday night following the win, Love indicated that he wasn’t exactly pleased with the matchup at the 5.

“It’s been my whole career I’ve played at the 4,” he said. “Ty sees something different and I think offensively once I get myself going we could use that to our advantage. As of right now, I need to find some easy buckets. They were right there tonight I just couldn’t put them down.”

The flip side of that coin is that when guarded by Tristan Thompson, Valanciunas was just 1-of-7 from the field with two points.

It is worth noticing, however, that during the regular season Love averaged a double-double of 17-12 against Toronto. Part of that was because he was able to draw Valanciunas out onto the perimeter and get that floor spacing that Lue mentioned. It seems like that is something Lue is banking on for this series, and part of the reason he is sticking with Love at center.

“We played Toronto twice, right? And he played the 5, right?” Lue asked. “I think wrestling with big Valanciunas on the offensive glass and post-ups– and we got to do a better job of trying to protect Kevin on those post-ups so he won’t get so worn down. He said he got tired around the six minute mark of that first quarter just from wrestling with Valanciunas.

“But we need Kevin to play the 5 for the spacing and I think it helps us offensively. And showing the tape and the film this morning with what we showed the guys, their bigs are coming to help. So when JR (Smith) drives or (LeBron James) drives or (George) Hill drives, their bigs are coming so we’re going to have open shots on the perimeter. We just have to knock them down.”

In order for Lue’s floor-spacing plan to work, however, Love simply has to do better than 3-of-13 shooting from the field. Otherwise, Valanciunas will still be able to sag off of Love and into the paint to help on James.

For now though, Lue’s mind is made up. It’s now up to Love to find a way to get back to his regular season numbers, otherwise, the matchup will work out in Toronto’s favor.