Kevin Love doesn’t know what it means to be deleted from NBA Playoffs.
Thanks to a clear 103-84 victory in Game 7, the Miami Heat won the Eastern Conference and will face the Denver Nuggets for the title. A finish that seemed a foregone conclusion after a 3-0 run, put in doubt by Boston’s comeback and reeled back in by Spoelstra’s team with a perfect game on the decisive night.
For Kevin Love this is the fifth Finals berth in as many Playoffs appearances. Each time he has participated in the postseason, Love has gone all the way, knowing defeat only in the finals. The record is all with LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers, from 2015 to 2018, always winning with the East title. In contrast, however, the tradition in the last act is not favorable: the ring came only in 2016, in three other circumstances there was defeat.
The curious record of Kevin Love, however, remains: five Playoffs appearances, five Finals landings.. Now it will have to be seen what his role will be in the rotation against Denver. In the first five confrontations with Boston coach Spoelstra sent him into the quintet, but in the last two he decided not to give him a single moment on the parquet.
