Timberwolves Kevin Love suspended
Kevin Love’s disappointment with physical play and officiating has been clearly premature and frequent this season. 10-cent totals
Emotion got the very best of him on Sat. night against the Rockets, and now he and the Minnesota Timberwolves need to pay the price: Love, his team’s leading scorer and rebounder, was suspended for two games by the NBA for “driving his foot into the shoulders and chest and face of the Rockets’ Luis Scola as Scola was lying on the floor.”
The play happened in the 3rd quarter of Saturday’s triumph over the Rockets after the two tangled while going for a rebound. As Love went to step over Scola, who a week earlier had thrown a ball off Love’s groin while making an attempt to save it from going out of bounds; he looked down at the Rockets forward and stepped on him as he headed back up the court. Discount vig totals
It marked the 2nd time last week Love delivered a hard foul after not getting a call on the other end. He raked Pacers forward Danny Granger across the chest on Wednesday, touching off a bit skirmish in a loss to Indiana.
Love said sorry to Scola both after the game and in a press release issued by the team on Monday following the suspension, and said he has to do a better job handling his feelings.
“I don’t want to be famous for that,” Love recounted after exercising. “I wish to be generally known as a stand-up player who occurred to make a mistake with a size 19 shoe and just go on. So everybody knows there were no ill intentions there.”
Love is averaging 25.0 points and 13.7 rebounds per game and directs the NBA with 39.4 minutes per game. The All-Star forward was contrite on Monday, announcing he suspected the suspension from NBA executive VP of basketball operations Stu Jackson “was warranted.”
“It’s been a chippy year,” Love recounted. “It is not just us. It’s not simply the Pacers, the Rockets or something like that. It’s a lot of games. The fellows are exhausted. Games are being drawn out and guys are worn down.
“For me and for us, it’s no diverse, and as well for the refs too. They’ve got to go over film just like we do, maybe far more. So you’ve got to give them respect and got to respect what they do.”
Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman claimed he has spoken with Love and the rest of his young team about playing thru any perceived mistreatment from the other team or the officers.
Adelman did wonder how Jackson landed on two games as correct punishment.
“Do I think it’s fair? No. Absolutely (not),” Adelman said. “I have no idea of the reasoning. They don’t tell you the reasoning. I do not know the reasoning why 2 games. They haven’t related something. You have just got to move on.”
The 23-year-old Love, who latterly signed a 4-year extension more valuable than $60 million, has been barking at the officials the majority of the season.
Adelman asserted he saw Love become angry with no-calls on 2 straight possessions before the run-in with Scola “and it led on to the incident.”
“You have got to play thru,” Adelman said. “Play with attitude, but you’ve got to play through it and not let it affect what happens on the floor.”
Adelman failed to say who would start in Love’s place against the Kings, but Derrick Williams and Anthony Tolliver accept to see a lot more time. Williams, the No. 2 overall pick, has had a hard time getting settled into a role with the Wolves.
“I guess it’s simply patience and hopefully I pick up (Adelman’s) have confidence in and have the ball in my hands more frequently,” Williams said. “I sort of feel a bit like it is just a scarcity of confidence, not in me, but him in me being in that position. I have just got to acquire his trust.”