CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Shortly after taking the job, Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein started watching film from last season’s team. Those clips centered on the second half of the year, when Kevin Love returned from surgery on his toe and transformed the Cavs back into a respectable, competitive group.

That’s what Beilein envisioned -- Love as the offensive focal point.

Beilein began imagining the unique ways he could maximize Love’s versatile skill set, help him rebound from a poor season and allow Love to be the veteran stabilizer for a young, developing group.

It looked promising early. In each of the first 13 games, Love scored double figures. He had eight double-doubles. He was averaging around three assists. Along with Tristan Thompson, the Cavs looked to have a dominant frontcourt, that veteran duo spearheading the surprising -- and encouraging -- start.

Then it changed. During this recent poor stretch that has lasted weeks, the Cavs have seemingly forgotten about Love, they’ve abandoned the formula that had worked well at the start.

That Love-Thompson two-man game has fizzled as well.

“It’s pretty much been nonexistent,” Love said with a hint of frustration following Tuesday’s 127-94 loss. “I’m trying to get myself involved a little bit, but I don’t know where it’s gone. I can’t answer that.”

The same question was posed to Beilein: What has happened to the Love and Thompson combo?

“I do not know,” he admitted. “I think people have scouted what we’re trying to do with that. We really tried to punch it to Kevin and I think he got doubled up a couple times. People are trying to make other people beat us. They will double him a lot. They were switching all the screens 1 through 4.

"So when Kevin had that switch we’d punch it in. If they double, usually you can find the right guy. But when they doubled, we only found the right guy a couple times, we missed a couple shots. We found Tristan for a dunk one time. That’s part of it. And then Tristan was having amazing success finishing around the rim. Just like anybody as they go through a season, you’ll go through periods when you doubt yourself and the ball doesn’t go in around the rim like it will later on.”

On Tuesday night, Love started fast. It appeared those pair of practices re-energized him and re-focused the Cavs. He scored five points in the first eight minutes, making both of his shots. But by the end of the blowout, he was sitting at just eight points to go with seven total attempts.

According to NBA.com stats, Love touched the ball 34 times in 22 minutes versus Detroit. That ranked sixth on the team. It was a drastic change from the feel-good loss Friday night versus title-contending Milwaukee, when Love led the Cavs in that category. It was a recognizable shift from the beginning of the season when Love consistently sat near the top of the touch list.

When he’s involved, good things happen. When he’s not, well...

Yes, opponents have adjusted. They are being more physical with Love. He’s commanding more attention. And Love needs to take better care of the ball. He’s averaging a career-high 2.8 turnovers.

When it comes to Thompson, defenders are giving him more respect after an explosive start. He’s no longer getting as much space as he did in October, which allowed him to easily release his developed hook shot after using his body to create even more room. Opponents recognize that Thompson usually tries the same move, getting back to his left shoulder. That scouting report has made finishing around the rim more difficult. Following a recent practice, Beilein and the coaches were working with Thompson on countering in a crowd. It remains a work in progress.

There’s another issue: Cleveland isn’t a great passing team. The two young guards aren’t accomplished in that area, sometimes making it tough to enter the ball to Love and Thompson inside. A few of the best passers on the roster are bigs, which can be problematic. That’s part of the reason Beilein let Cedi Osman start being more of an initiator.

Perhaps there’s another tweak to be made.

“Larry (Nance Jr.) is such a good playmaker, Tristan has shown what he can do, myself included, really those three bigs I mentioned, including myself, we can all go out and make plays,” Love said. “At least, transfer the ball to the other side and get some movement because I think we’re making it too easy on teams with those one-pass, two-pass or no-pass shots.

“Just need flow. Too many times we don’t know what we’re in. ... No matter what we are running, whether it’s a make or miss, getting up and down we’d like to see more constant flow. I think I’m preaching to the choir here, where it’s not just me, it’s 1-15 and everybody on the coaching staff.”

If winning -- heck, just staying competitive -- is the goal, it’s time to make Love the centerpiece again.

Through 20 games, Love is averaging 16.7 points -- only a fraction better than his first two seasons in Cleveland when he was adjusting to the third-wheel role behind LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. He’s getting 11.4 shot attempts per game. That’s third on the team behind Collin Sexton and Thompson. Love’s only been lower twice in his career -- the first two seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves. That can’t continue. It’s inexcusable, especially after Love averaged 18.6 points on 12.1 shots just two weeks ago.

While his dip in numbers tie into a nasty fall he took against the Philadelphia 76ers on Nov. 17, one that caused him to miss three games since, Love has insisted for days that he feels “great.” He restated that following Tuesday’s loss, so that isn’t the explanation.

“That fall set me back a week, but I feel great,” he said.

Love is the Cavs’ best -- and most important -- player. He can still make a considerable impact without leading the team in shots because of his high basketball IQ, floor spacing, rebounding and ability to garner the defense’s attention. But the days of him sacrificing should be over.

Yes, the Cavs altered the offense to get Osman more touches, which has led to Osman looking more comfortable lately. The Cavs have committed to the Darius Garland-Sexton backcourt. Those two need to keep working through natural growing pains. They will each be heavily involved in many possessions. There are a lot of moving parts, as Beilein -- and the Cavs -- get acclimated on the fly. It’s all part of the process.

None of that should be at the expense of Love, who is in the 92nd percentile as a pick-and-roll finisher this season, 83rd percentile in points per shot attempt and 83rd percentile in assist percentage -- numbers that align with some of his All-Star years in Minnesota.

Love should be the one constant. That should make Beilein’s next adjustment simple: Better utilize the team’s only star.

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