There was no Love in the house on Valentine’s Day, but dashing LeBron James and the high-octane NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers left hearts thumping Tuesday night at Target Center.
Watching James soar to the rim, slash through traffic and finish or bury a fade-away jumper and dish out ally-oops like chocolates truly is a sight to behold, one which Timberwolves fans can be subjected to only once per season.
Catharsis for watching this entertaining but inevitable 116-108 loss would have been heckling Kevin Love every time the Wolves’ former disgruntled all-star touched the ball or howled for a foul. Except that the power forward is out six weeks with a knee injury that required arthroscopic surgery.
So Minnesota’s starving basketball fans choked down another defeat with an Andrew Wiggins chaser, a flavor worth savoring for years to come.
Nine days shy of his 22nd birthday Wiggins erupted for 41 points and willed the Wolves to a 93-93 tie with 19 in the third quarter alone. He followed his fourth three-pointer with a running jumper to beat the buzzer and bring the robust crowd of 17,738 to its feet.
However, the Wolves went cold in the fourth quarter, scoring only 15 points while the defending champs closed with an 11-4 run to snuff any hopes of an upset. James bagged 25 points with 14 assists and eight rebounds.
Wiggins’ third 40-plus point effort of the season and Minnesota’s gutsy shortcomings offered little consolation.
“We did a lot of good things, but we didn’t finish off like we should have,” Wiggins said afterward in the locker room, his voice barely above a whisper. “It’s always competitive playing them. I feel they bring out the best in everybody. We’ll get them eventually.”
The fates of Wiggins and Love, the Wolves and Cavaliers, are forever linked by the blockbuster trade in August 2014 that landed the brooding Love in Cleveland and brought the dynamic Wiggins to Minnesota.
The Cavs got their big man and their Larry O’Brien Trophy in June, so the trade already has paid dividends for them. But the Wolves are in a long play with Wiggins. Their patience should be rewarded handsomely if this fearless playmaker can establish nights like Tuesday as his standard.
It was barely one month after James returned to his hometown when Cleveland jettisoned Wiggins for Love in a three-team deal. Related Articles LeBron James, Cavs top Timberwolves despite Wiggins’ 41 points
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The Cavaliers needed a rebounder to complement James and Kyrie Irving. Love was a double-double machine, averaging 25.9 points and 12.4 rebounds in 2013-14 — his final season with the Wolves.
Suddenly the third option in Cleveland, Love’s production faded precipitously his first season. He suffered a dislocated shoulder in the Eastern Conference finals when Boston’s Kelly Olynyk wrenched Love’s arm like a wayward branch. The Cavs fell to Golden State in six games in the NBA Finals.
Love’s 16 points and 9.9 rebounds last season were not much better. He barely shot 40 percent through most of the playoffs
But his defensive prowess in the Finals and shutdown performance against Stephen Curry in the fourth quarter of Game 7 allowed the Cavs to roar back from a 3-1 series deficit and swipe the crown from the Warriors.
The Cavs cashed in with Love, and now they’re paying for it.
The max contract he coveted but never received in Minnesota calls for him to earn $110 million over five years, with an ascending cap hit topping out at $25 million.
Love was one of five NBA players averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds and the only one in the Eastern Conference before being shelved.
“It sucks for Kevin,” James said before the game. “Having that all-star year and this is where he wanted to get back to after coming from Minnesota a couple years ago. To finally get back to the point where he felt like ‘I validated myself once again in this league,’ … and he’s going to miss eight weeks, which sucks.”
Retaining Love in 2014 was never a viable option for the Wolves, who would have lost him to free agency a year later.
Instead of Love’s lame-duck season and potentially a spirited chase to .500, the Wolves threw Wiggins and Zach Lavine into the meat grinder, bottomed out in the standings but finally earned some lottery luck that allowed them to nab Karl-Anthony Towns with the 2015 No. 1 overall pick.
In early January the Cavs acquired Kyle Korver, who ranks eighth all time in three-pointers. But James, playing with more house money on and off the court than any man in the league, wants more. Related Articles Brian Murphy: Forty years later, the hidden message of ‘Slap Shot’ goes unheeded
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Owner Dan Gilbert has propped open the vault, and James is leaning on general manager David Griffin to supplement the roster. King James will demand his teammates raise their games and shoulder the burden down the stretch.
“It’s been a burden on me since I got drafted. Why does it change now?” James said. “Ain’t nothing changed. I’ve got my guys ready to play every single night.”
Wiggins came to play Tuesday night. With regular performances like that, Minnesota’s hearts and minds will follow.