OAKLAND, CALIF.: Kevin Love’s career as a backup lasted exactly one game. Love was reinserted into the starting lineup for Monday’s NBA Finals Game 5 against the Golden State Warriors.
The absence of Draymond Green helped ease Love back into his starter’s role. Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue benched Love primarily because of his problems defending Green, who was suspended for Game 5 after accumulating four flagrant foul points this postseason.
Love entered Game 5 averaging 11 points and seven rebounds in the series.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr elected to start Andre Iguodala in place of Green, but the player punished most by Green’s suspension — other than Green himself — was reserve guard Ian Clark.
Clark was made inactive because the Warriors had to leave Green active even though he couldn’t play.
“It’s unfortunate. It’s a rule I’d like to see the league change,” Kerr said. “I guess the point is if you suspend a player that the team should be punished and not have an extra player. But in my mind you should not punish a different player. Ian has been working his entire life on his game and preparing.
“And here it is the NBA Finals and because Draymond is suspended, I can’t suit up Ian. I don’t think that’s fair. I think that’s something that should be addressed, and maybe that’s something that we can bring up with the league down the road.”
Deja vu
LeBron James stepping over Green in Game 4 has been compared to Allen Iverson stepping over Lue during Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals.
Lue fell down while defending Iverson, who stepped over him after making a shot in what has become one of the more memorable moments in Finals history.
Of course, Lue and the Los Angeles Lakers ultimately beat Iverson’s Philadelphia 76ers in five games to win the championship.
“I just played good defense, contested a shot,” Lue recalled this week. “I didn’t make a big deal of it. After the game, of course, it was a big deal and everybody was talking about it. But at the end of the day, we won, so that’s all that matters to me.”
Neighborly
The Warriors were upset for two days about Green’s suspension and the crowd was already chanting “Free Draymond” prior to the opening tip. Green watched the game from a suite at O.co Coliseum right next door, according to multiple reports, but Lue didn’t seem concerned about the Warriors’ problems.
“I don’t care about Golden State,” Lue said. “I mean, we’ve got a fire lit, too. We’re down 3-1. That’s the decision the league made, and it’s unfortunate on a big stage like this, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to win the game.”
Dribbles
James tied Manu Ginobili (197) for ninth on the career playoff games played list. … He passed Elgin Baylor (1,724) for ninth on the all-time postseason rebounding list in the first quarter. … He began the night seven 3-pointers shy of passing Derek Fisher (285) for fifth on the all-time postseason list.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.