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Originally Posted by knickslions2
Totally agree with Irving. They were lost without him and needed another ball handler. Don't agree on Love. Thompson played fantastic on both sides of the court. His rebounding and aggressiveness gave Cleveland multiple opportunities and he was great on defense. I thought besides Lebron he was reason the were able to win any games.
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Love was beneficial mainly early in the game. The team's pattern in regular season was normally in close games Thompson was in in the 4th rather than Love due to the defense, but those 15 to 20 points by Love came in handy!! Love's 7 to 9 defensive boards a game also relieved LeBron of that duty which he picked up in the playoffs. LeBron had his lowest rebounding average of his career this season, but averaged over 11 in the playoffs mainly due to Love's injury....he had to pick up that slack. Thompson did average over 26 minutes per game in regular season. I think both him and LeBron wore down in the 4th quarter of games in the Golden State series due to over use. They were both playing 8 to 10 minutes more than normal per game due to the injuries. I don't think they definitely win the series without the injuries as many Cleveland fans are saying, but the chances certainly would have been better. Love had a good year. He averaged about 17 and 10 and shot the 3 well....37 percent. I honestly don't know why so many were down on him all season.