Kevin Love injury is a thing of the past now. At least based on his recent appearances and he says to the media.
The Cleveland Cavaliers forward has recovered from the nasty shoulder injury he suffered in second round game versus Boston Celtics last season. This injury kept him from the rest of the playoffs and made him miss his first finals appearance vs Golden State Warriors which Cavs eventually lost.
After months of being out from a competitive game, Love said he is ready for the regular season. Cavs' squad is pretty much complete now with Love returning to action and Tristan Thompson re-signing for a five-year, $82 million deal.
"I feel great," Love said in an interview with Grantland.
"The last few nights I've had my first little bit of game action since my shoulder got ripped out. You know, everything kind of progressed from hitting the pads, playing one-on-one, three-on-three, five-on-five, and then I was able to play 12 or 15 minutes the other night and then 20-plus last night. So it's mostly been about getting my rhythm back, taking my first few hits on my shoulder in real time, but I feel good. I'm ready to get this week behind me and get to the regular season."
Being out of the game is very frustrating for any players. The common complain about injuries is losing the adjustments they need to make on their body or skills. For Love, it is the mental challenge that worried him the most.
"Well, it's not always the physical stuff, it's also the mental and all the emotional stuff I went through," he said.
"More than anything, it was just the tedious, every single day, doing the same thing over and over again. And sometimes you take a step forward and maybe two steps back and you have to swallow your pride and get right back out there. But you try to keep on your mind that these processes, while very lengthy in recovery time - as I mentioned, four to six months - help you come back to 100 percent most of the time, or even stronger than you were before."
Kevin Love injury was a huge blow to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Lebron James lost a reliable option for offense in their finals loss to the Warriors. Love averaged 16.4 points per game and 9.7 rebounds for the Cavs before the injury.
