Kevin Love: Cleveland Cavaliers must take advantage of chances

Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving"s Journey Back

Matthew Florjancic, WKYC5:58 PM. EST June 05, 2016

Kevin Love says the Cleveland Cavaliers must take advantage of their chances in Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors. (Photo: Bob Donnan, Custom)

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Cavaliers held the Golden State Warriors starting backcourt to just 20 points and the jump-shooting team to just nine of 27 from three-point range, but even that was not enough to seize a road victory at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

The Cavaliers surrendered 45 points to Golden States bench and committed an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers that resulted in 25 points in a 104-89 Warriors win in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

We had our chances, Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love said. We got it to a six-point game at the end of the third and we got off to a good start to start the fourth quarter, so we thought we had some good momentum.

We were making good plays and took the lead at one point in the third quarter, but we couldnt get over the hump. They played well here and we will have to come out and match their intensity coming into Game 2.

After momentarily taking a lead, the Cavaliers trailed the Warriors by just three points late in the third quarter of Game 1, but a foul by Matthew Dellavedova against Andre Iguodala sparked a run that put the game out of reach.

After attempting to reach in and jar the basketball loose from Iguodala, Dellavedova hit the veteran guard below the belt and a skirmish ensued that required a several-minute review. Once play resumed, the Warriors went on a 13-2 run and used that momentum to claim the win over the Cavaliers.

In transition, we just have to match up with them, Love said. We had breakdowns when we needed to get stops. We definitely have to look at the film and clean that up. We felt we did a good job on the perimeter, but some of the transition attacks that they hit ahead ultimately helped them to keep pushing the lead up.

In the lead-up to Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Cavaliers answered a multitude of questions about how they intended to stop two-time MVP Stephen Curry and hot-shooting guard Klay Thompson from wreaking havoc on their defense.

However, the Cavaliers were outscored by Golden States bench, 45-10, and for Cleveland to improve on that production and even up the NBA Finals at 1-1 before returning to the North Coast for Games 3 and 4 at Quicken Loans Arena this week.

They really thrive off their bench, Love said. Their second unit comes in, plays well, and when they do like they do, we did well on them and they were still tough.

Its seldom seen that they will have a night like that, so we need to be even better come Sunday. We know that we need to neutralize them as much as we can, and its easier said than done. Also, their bench was great, primarily Livingston giving them a big lift, and thats something that we will need to look at.

Source: http://www.wkyc.com/sports/nba/cavaliers/kevin-love-cleveland-cavaliers-must-take-advantage-of-chances/233097264