Cavaliers' Kevin Love has outburst at shootaround, per report, then shows frustration in loss

CLEVELAND — After what was reported by The Athletic as an emotional verbal outburst at shootaround when he learned he was being fined, veteran forward Kevin Love seemed to carry over his frustration about the Cavaliers organization into Saturday night’s 121-106 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

But Cavs coach John Beilein took the blame for a play at the end of the first half when Love was most visibly upset by what transpired on the court.

Cavs center Tristan Thompson rebounded a Thunder miss with 30 seconds remaining in the half and guard Collin Sexton stopped just past the midcourt line, dribbling excessively. Love walked to the post, saw he was matched up with guard Chris Paul and raised both his arms, but was not spotted by Sexton.

Love walked to the top of the key to get the ball from Sexton, then viciously whipped it back to Cedi Osman. Osman was fouled on a 3-point shot, making two of his three free throws with 10.4 seconds left to cut the Thunder lead to 64-53.

“I felt we were making a play call and at the end of the second [quarter] we were in the bonus and I had Chris Paul on me,” Love said. “Felt swing it to me and try to throw it in the post, see if they double-team me and get a shot out of that, but that’s not what we did. Yeah, I was frustrated.”

First-year NBA coach Beilein said it was his fault and he told Love that at halftime.

“That was my mistake,” Beilein said. “I was trying to get us to slow down and try to get, not the last shot, but close to the last shot. He had Chris Paul posted up, I didn’t see it. It was on me, I called something else.

“I told him after. I said, I’m sorry, I didn’t see it. I just wanted us to ... we’re playing at a pace where I was afraid we weren’t going to get a great shot. Took my complete eyes off who he was posting up. At halftime I said, ‘My bad I missed you.’ And you saw in the second half, we went right at it.”

Sexton downplayed what happened, saying, “It was just time and play. He was probably frustrated they scored. Nothing about offense or anything. It’s all good.”

Love finished with 12 points, three rebounds, an assist and three turnovers in nearly 30 minutes.

The play came on the heels of a report by The Athletic that Love yelled in front of teammates, coaches and front office members that there was “no feel here” at Saturday’s shootaround. The report said Love’s outburst was directed at General Manager Koby Altman.

According to the report by Shams Charania and Joe Vardon, the five-time All-Star forward disagreed with a $1,000 fine levied by the Cavs for his actions Dec. 31 in Toronto. During the third quarter against the Raptors, cameras spotted Love away from the team huddle, slapping chairs.

The report said Love asked out of the game to cool off, then when questioned during a timeout about what was wrong, told a Cavs assistant he didn’t like the selfish way the first unit was playing.

The report said Love raised his voice to Altman at the end of last season and Altman threatened to fine him. Sources told The Athletic that Love responded then, “Go ahead. I have plenty of money.”

Shortly before 1 p.m., Love posted on Instagram a picture of actor Joaquin Phoenix from the movie “Joker,” lifting his lips with his fingers to force a smile. Love’s caption said, “Mood.”

Love’s postgame interview lasted only 96 seconds, cut off by a communications department staffer when there was a brief pause.

Shortly before midnight Saturday, Love posted a picture of himself with his arm around Sexton on Instagram with the caption, “A lot of non truths being shared ... but I’ve learned that we live in a world where people remember accusations and not rebuttals. Let them paint whatever picture they want. Fact is — I love my teammates.” It was followed by three muscle emojis.

But Love’s attitude was visible on more than one occasion against the Thunder as the Cavs fell to 10-25. They went 19-63 last season, the first after LeBron James departed for the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency, and Love played in only 22 games because of toe surgery.

“We’re 3-3 in the last 6 six games [coming into Saturday], he’s averaging 19 [points] and 10 [rebounds],” Beilein said. “And sometimes ... he wants to win badly, he wants to help this team. It’s been a frustrating couple of years between injuries and the losses pile up. And I’m sure he gets frustrated from time to time.”

Beilein said he will pull players aside to talk when they show frustration on the court.

“It’s a constant work in progress for us to get people to understand everybody is watching you out there,” Beilein said. “As frustrated as the coach gets, as frustrated as ... we can’t display that on the floor. But I think it’s been all year long, it’s difficult for some of our guys who don’t want to lose, and they want to play and they want to play better ...

“If I do it, if anyone does it, it really doesn’t make you a better player or a better coach at that time. It’s like carrying a suitcase around with you that you have extra baggage. We don’t need to do that. So, as it’s pointed out to them or we see it, we try to address it the best we can.”

Altman signed Love to a four-year, $120 million contract extension in the summer of 2018. With the Cavs in the second year of what could be a long rebuild, Love would like to be dealt to a contender, but his injury history and high salary might not bring the return the Cavs seek. The NBA trade deadline is 12:30 a.m. Feb. 7.

Asked if he fears that Love’s on-court frustration will spread to the Cavs’ young players, Beilein said, “Everybody’s got a different emotional spectrum and we all understand that and we try to get and talk, side conversations. Some people react differently and we have to try and get it where it’s all manageable.”

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.