Where is the Love

As the NBA gets closer to its off-season, there are many possible moves that would shake up the league.

Forget about if the Heat are able to keep their “Big 3” and who would lure all-star Carmelo Anthony away from New York, this year’s potential off-season move is all about love.

Kevin Love has spent the past six seasons as the Minnesota Timberwolves’ franchise player and has established himself as one of the best big men in the game today.

In just 364 career games, the 6-11 power forward has averaged 19.2PPG, and 12.2RPG while shooting and impressing 45% from the field over his young NBA career.

Love’s numbers have put him in elite company with some of the best players in the game, but his glamorous numbers has not helped improve the struggling Timberwolves’ winning percentage over the past few seasons.

 Throughout Love's career with the Timberwolves, Love has yet to experience the NBA postseason with the Timberwolves’ whose last playoff berth came in 2004.

Since drafting Love back in 2008, the overall record for Minnesota in six seasons has been a dreadful 153-323.

According to multiple sources around the league, Love as made it clear that after next season; the three-time all-star will not resign with the Timberwolves, which is not a big surprise.

Now, the best option for the Timberwolves is to trade Love before the 2015 trade deadline next season and try to acquire some asset other than losing their franchise player for nothing in the off-season.

With so many teams trying to pursue Love this off-season, the “Kevin Love Sweepstakes” has already begun and the love is felt all over the league.

Many teams around the association who are in the “Kevin Love Sweepstakes” are potential NBA title contenders like the Bulls, Rockets, and Warriors who are at the top of the list to make a hard push to require Love in an off-season trade this summer.

Other teams that are in the hunt for Love are non-playoffs teams like the Cavaliers, Celtics and Kings, who believe that trading for Love will make them become playoff teams for the future.

The biggest question for teams who are looking to require Love all share the same shared problem. Whichever team is willing to trade for Love is taking a huge risk without his assurance that he will sign a long turn deal to remain with the team.

One team that is taking the risk on Love is the Los Angeles Lakers, who dealt with a similar situation once before with Dwight Howard. After trading for Howard in the summer of 2012, he left the Lakers this past off-season to sign a four year deal with the Houston Rockets.

However, the one advantage that the Lakers may have in favor to assure that Love will resign is that he is a native of Los Angeles and playing for the Lakers Love will be returning back home.

As of now it is not clear whether or not the Timberwolves are open to trading Love before the start of next season or before the trade deadline, but one thing is clear, whichever team win the “Kevin Love Sweepstakes” will become elite title contenders for years to come.

Pacers in Trouble

The Indiana Pacers were in good hands late during the fourth quarter with the possibility of going up 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals Tuesday night.

Late the fourth quarter, the Pacers had the game and the lead in their hands till Dwyane Wade and LeBron James went on fourth quarter rally which brought the Miami Heat back to even up the series at one a piece. 

Now, the Pacers are heading back to south beach with a strong possibility to lose home court advantage, and with speculations surrounding their all-star forward Paul George could miss Game 3; the Pacers could be in a trouble.

If the Heat are able to win Saturday night game’s, they would have a 2-1 series lead and take home court advantage from the Pacers which would be a devastating blow for the top seeded Pacers. 

All season, the Pacers have preached that having home court advantage is the missing ingredient to finally beat the two-time defending champs, and it is easy to see why.

Ever since the Heat’s Big Three era, they have been nothing but spectacular on their home floor. Since the 2011 playoffs, the Heat has assembled an impressing 35-6 home record, and the chances of a team beating the Heat after they have taken home court advantage away from their opponents is little to none. 

This is not a good sign for the Pacers.

If the Pacers want to continue to have home court in their favor, then game 3 is a must win. However, they may have to do it without their star Paul George. 

Paul George goes after a ball from LeBron James.

During the fourth quarter of game 2, George suffered a concussion after Dwyane Wade’s knee collided with the back of George’s head while scrambling for a loose ball midway through the fourth quarter.

In an interview after the game according to ESPN, George stated that he blacked out momentarily and for four to five minutes his vision was blurry.

The Pacers have two more days before their game Saturday night, which is good news for George and his Pacers. However, depending on the level of his concussion, this type of injury can take more than a few days (in some cases weeks) to fully recover.

If the Pacers are forced to play game 3 and possibly game 4 in Miami without their leading scorer Paul George, it very likely that the Heat will go back to Bankers Life Fieldhouse with a 3-1 lead. 

As of now the status of Paul George is unclear whether he would miss game 3, but what is clear, whatever team pulls out the victory will have a one game lead in the series, and move a step closer to the NBA Finals.