CLEVELAND — Already underdogs, the Cavaliers may also be undermanned for Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
They remain undaunted.
The Cavs practiced Tuesday without starting forward Kevin Love, who is following the league’s concussion protocol after being struck in the back of the head by Golden State’s Harrison Barnes during Sunday night’s Game 2 blowout loss.
Love stayed in the locker room while his teammates practiced on the floor at Quicken Loans Arena, where they are 7-0 in this postseason and will have 20,000 screaming fans on their side for the next two games. Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said Love is feeling better, but his status for Game 3 — and the remainder of the series — hinges on him passing several physical tests and getting cleared to play.
Love might be uncertain. LeBron James, on the other hand, is positive the Cavs can’t let anything become a distraction.
“Next man up,” James said. “We’re down 0-2, and we can’t afford to look and say: ‘Wow, Kev’s not playing. What are we going to do?’ It’s next man up because it’s a must-win for us. So obviously his health is very important, but in the situation we’re in now, we’ve got to stay confident.”
If Love can’t play, Lue will have to replace 16.5 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. A potential move is bringing back Russian center Timofey Mozgov, who was disappointing in the regular season and has been exiled to the bench. The 7-foot-1 Mozgov was Cleveland’s second-leading scorer in last year’s finals against the Warriors, who switched to a smaller lineup to drive him off the floor.
One thing that Lue and his staff will change is the approach when it comes to physicality: Cleveland had success when it got aggressive with the Warriors in last year’s finals, so it’s a reasonable assumption that the Cavs will try it again Wednesday.
Lue considered other lineup changes in hopes of slowing the Warriors, who won the first two games by a combined 48 points despite sub-standard performances by shooting stars Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, whose splashes have been mere sprinkles so far.
“We’ve thought about it, we’ve talked about it, but I can’t let you know what we’re planning on doing,” Lue said with a laugh.