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Top 10 storylines for the 2017 NBA Finals

NBA Finals NBA MVP LeBron James Kevin Durant Golden State Warriors Cleveland Cavaliers

2. Kevin Love’s ascension

Kevin Love should be ready to help the Cavaliers in their third consecutive NBA Finals matchup against the Warriors.

Following Love’s trade from Minnesota to Cleveland back in 2014, he didn’t necessarily fit in extremely well with the team. The All-Star averaged a five-year low 16.4 points per game. Love then missed a vast majority of the playoffs after suffering an injury in the first round against Boston.

Then, last season, Love fell out of favor big time in the playoffs. He averaged just 6.8 points per game and was inactive for one game in the Finals last June. Now, back to playing at an All-Star level, it will be interesting to see how Love performs against the Warriors in this third go-around.

While it’s still LeBron James and Kyrie Irving doing most of the damage for Cleveland, Love has had himself a splendid run during the playoffs. He’s averaging 17.3 points and 10.3 rebounds while shooting at an absurd 48 percent from distance. That’s been one of the primary reasons Cleveland continues to find itself dominating the opposition the later we get into the postseason.

Unfortunately for Love, he faces the difficult task of going up against likely Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green. It’s just not a good matchup for Love himself.

He averaged just 11.5 points while shooting at a 32 percent mark against Golden State in two regular season games. Add that to Love’s struggles in last year’s Finals and that has to be of utmost concern for Cleveland. Heck, even when the Warriors decide to go small with Green at center, either Kevin Durant or David West will be up against Love. Both of them are more physical than Love and have to be considered plus-level defenders.

Considering Golden State’s elite-level offense and the Cavaliers’ struggles on defense, the three-time defending Eastern Conference champs need more than LeBron and Kyrie to perform at a high level. Should Love struggle, this could very well lead to a short series.

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