David Blatt has to use Kevin Love in the 4th quarter

          In the 4th quarter and overtime of the Cleveland Cavaliers' 128-125 victory over the San Antonio Spurs this past week, Kevin Love was nowhere to be seen on the basketball court. He was just chilling on the bench not doing anything productive. If he had ordered a coke and a hot dog and headed for the showers, head coach David Blatt probably wouldn't have noticed, and he certainly wouldn't have cared.

     The reason for Love's benching is obviously due to the fact that he isn't a great defensive player and David Blatt wants defense at the end of games. On paper, Blatt's reasoning sounds logical and agreeable: Kevin Love doesn't play defense; defense wins basketball games; basketball games are won in the fourth quarter; therefore, Kevin Love sits in the 4th quarter.

      There is one important fact that gets ignored in this argument and that fact is that the Cleveland Cavaliers are paying Kevin Love $16.74M this season. When was the last time you heard of a player getting paid $16.74M while simultaneously not get used in the 4th quarter? I can't think of anybody. Kevin Love is one of the Cavaliers' money players and as a rule of thumb, you have to play your money players in crunch time because that's why they are getting paid that amount of money.

     Whether David Blatt likes it or not, the Cavaliers' front office is paying Kevin Love to help them win a championship, which going back to the last argument, implies he needs to be playing in the 4th quarter. If Blatt isn't going to be playing Kevin Love in the 4th quarter, then he might as well tell Kevin Love to pack his bags in free agency, because there is no way Kevin Love comes back to a team that doesn't utilize his services at the end of games.

     Last season, Kevin Love averaged 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds per game on the Timberwolves. I don't care if the Timberwolves were bad. Kevin Love put those numbers up against other NBA players, which means that Kevin Love is a damn good basketball player that can be utilized as a weapon during crunch time. There is no way anybody can convince me that the Cavaliers are better off with Kevin Love on the bench in the 4th quarter than they are with him on the floor. He can bring a terrific scoring threat and a tenacious rebounding presence to the floor that outweighs any deficiencies he has on defense.

     Sometimes coaches can over-think things and not using Love in the 4th quarter to gain a defensive edge appears to be an example of a coach over-thinking. Blatt is doing something that one can convince themselves to do only after doing too much thinking. On its face, it seems absurd to not use Kevin Love in the 4th quarter because it is in fact absurd. Kevin Love is one of the league's most talented big men and he needs to be utilized in the 4th quarter. If your scheme doesn't work well with his talents, maybe you need a new scheme because Kevin Love, last I checked, is one of the Top 25 basketball players on the planet.

     In conclusion, David Blatt needs to find a way to use Kevin Love in the 4th quarter of basketball games. I know that Love doesn't get benched in the 4th quarter all the time, but it happens enough that it's alarming. What's alarming is the thought of Kevin Love getting benched in the 4th quarter of a Game 7 in the playoffs, and what's even more alarming, is that it looks like that could very well happen.

     The Cavaliers have improved tremendously over the course of the season, but the one weakness they have is their inability to properly integrate Kevin Love into their fold. He's an elite player who is getting paid like an like an elite player. It's time the Cavaliers treat him like one and play to his strengths as opposed to using him as a "stretch four" who is incapable of being on the floor at the end of games.

     ---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord 

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The Blame Game: Cleveland Cavaliers

Are the Cleveland Cavaliers tuning out rookie head coach David Blatt?  The last 24 hours have delivered every angle expected from the franchise who is grossly underachieving.  The irony is that in sports we've seen this time and time again; nothing here is surprising, just the same retreaded news over and over again.  The Blame Game leads to the sacrificial lamb which leads to the chosen one and after all is said and done the result will remain the same.

The issue at hand goes back to hubris, the hubris of one that thinks he can control all around him and to an extent he can but in this world the Basketball Gods always have the final say.  The act of discontent was tried once before, the scene was much different but the game was played the same.  During a time that the Miami Heat were 9-8 in LeBron James' first season with the franchise, the King's camp let it be known that players were questioning whether or not Erik Spoelstra was the right coach for the team.

Sources say the players believe he is not letting them be themselves, that they are questioning his offensive strategies, and that they think he is panicking because he fears losing his job.

"He's jumping on them," one source said. "If anything, he's been too tough on them. Everybody knows LeBron is playful and likes to joke around, but Spoelstra told him in front of the whole team that he has to get more serious. The players couldn't believe it. They feel like Spoelstra's not letting them be themselves."

We are all aware of Chris Broussard's sources.....puppets are willing and eager in this business....

Luckily Spoelstra was never fired based on the antics of one's camp and the Miami Heat would go on to participate in four consecutive NBA Finals, winning two NBA Championships along the way.  

Rumors of discontent between the players of the Cleveland Cavaliers and their coach (Blatt) have rumbling for weeks but exploded recently due to ESPN's Brian Windhorst.....the puppet masters were at it again and the puppet, dare I say was willing and eager....

Sources told ESPN.com that there is rising concern in team circles about the level of response that Blatt is getting on the floor, with Blatt himself acknowledging that the Cavaliers "lost our energy and we lost our competitiveness"

The sacrificial lamb had been chosen and to his heir-apparent, Tyrone Lue

"Whispers about the lack of attention that various Cavs players are paying to Blatt during some timeout huddles, as well as their apparent preference to communicate with Cavs assistant and former NBA player Tyronn Lue, have been in circulation for weeks."

All of the pieces to the puzzle are in place.  The Blame Game which led to the sacrificial lamb and now the Chosen One has been selected and the genesis of the game has been cast asunder:  

"I think my relationship with the coach continues to get better and better every day,"  LeBron James said Monday "This is two months of us being together. I don't know him fully. He doesn't know me fully. He doesn't know any of the guys fully and that's to be expected. It's our first year together. But he has our attention."

Were we all supposed to forget that we've seen this story before.  At 18-12 the Cavaliers are currently 5th in the NBA's Eastern Conference, were they out west, they'd be fighting for the final playoff spots.  

The NBA season is still early as we're not even at the halfway point yet.  It is said that time heals all wounds and the Cavaliers have been scarred thus far mentally and physically.  Blatt was never supposed to be the guy for the team as currently constructed but would a potential coaching change really deter LeBron James' "Chill Mode" or Kevin Love's constant overrating being realized.  It definitely won't bring Anderson Varejao back.  

Don't panic now Cleveland for this is the roster that you chose, the coach that you picked and the King that you begged to come back.  Stay the course because a move now would scream desperation and the admittance of a mistake.  It's time to stop playing the Blame Game and try accountability.  Be the change that you want to see.  Instead of being the broken record of "We're not a very good team" try giving 100% versus the 70% that you're giving right now.  Hubris can be blinding at times.....

“Ignorance and power and pride are a deadly mixture, you know.”

― Robert Fulghum

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