We need to talk about Kevin
Both last year’s conference champions are missing their “star Kevin”
The Golden State Warriors lost their franchise superstar (well, one of them anyway), Kevin Durant, a couple of weeks ago after suffering a sprained medial collateral ligament from a fall during his homecoming game against the in-form Washington Wizards.
The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their franchise superstar. No wait, that’s LeBron. They lost their supporting all-star. Hold the phone that’s flat-earth truther, Kyrie Irving. My apologies, I guess I’m not as woke as the all-star point guard. They lost their team’s third best option and primary rebounder at the start of the new year, Kevin “White Men CAN Jump” Love, due to knee surgery.
Both teams obviously knew that these injuries would be tough pills to swallow but with their respective talent still available and the hopeful news that the “Kevi” would return in time for the postseason, Cleveland and Golden State will have felt that they could coast the rest of the season at the top of their conferences and secure the №1 seed and home-court advantage in the playoffs.
However, this has not been the case. Cleveland went 7–8 in January and have gone 4–6 in their last 10 games. That streak includes losses to Chicago, Boston and Detroit and back-to-back losses against LeBron’s former team, the Miami Heat. All of whom are potential Eastern conference playoff opponents for the Cavs (even though the Heat’s record has clearly been hacked by the Russians). They are also 12th in the league for rebounds per game (RPG) and 19th in opponent points per game (OPPG). Currently, the Cavs record is 43–22 which is only two games ahead of the Boston Celtics (42–25) who are allowing less points (105.1) than Cleveland (106.6) and only two and a half games ahead of the aforementioned Washington Wizards, who are 7–3 in their last 10 and have the same total of home wins (26) as the Cavs. LeBron and co. will have to survive another 17 games if they are to take the №1 seed. This will be hindered by the fact that they are 17–15 when playing on the road, a worse road record than San Antonio, Golden State, Houston, Utah, Boston and Atlanta.
Perhaps even more concerning is Golden State’s loss of form. Since losing Durant, they have gone 2–5 and have lost their last three consecutive games. One of those losses was an on-paper marquee matchup against the San Antonio Spurs that was as remarkable as a terrorist attack in Sweden. LaMarcus Aldridge has a scary heart issue whilst Kawhi, Steph, Klay & Draymond were all benched. They now have an identical record (52–14) to San Antonio, who are rounding into form after going 9–1 in their last 10 and have allowed less points (98.3) than Golden State (105.3). The Warriors will have 16 games at least before KD’s potential return to stave off the Spurs and secure the №1 seed for the third straight year and it could mean the difference between facing Nikola Jokic in the first round and Gordon Hayward in the second or facing off against Russell Westbrook then James Harden.
Kevin Love and Kevin Durant will theoretically strengthen these teams when they return. Love was leading the Cavaliers in rebounding with 11.1 RPG and was averaging 20 PPG. Durant was leading the Warriors in both scoring (25.3 PPG) and rebounding (8.2 RPG). Whether they can both come back and contribute immediately remains to be seen and neither of whom may get the opportunity to do so. Love isn’t expected back until the end of the regular season and Durant’s return isn’t likely until the second round of the postseason, at least.
The much-anticipated third act of the Golden State v Cleveland trilogy will not come to pass. As a matter of fact, none of the “Kevi” will make it.
(all stats thanks to nba.com)
