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NBA FINALS: CAVALIERS vs WARRIORS

May 31, 2018

Kevin Love

Oakland, California: Game One

Warriors - 124, Cavaliers - 114 (OT)

Q. You guys have had all sorts of games over the course of this rivalry, but how do you walk away from this one and process what you saw late in the fourth quarter through overtime?
KEVIN LOVE: Yeah, I mean, it's obviously a tough way to finish a game when we felt like we played our hearts out. Gave everything, had a great game plan. Had a performance from LeBron that was just incredible. Just came down to a couple plays.

But it was definitely a tough one. You mentioned processing it. We'll go back to the drawing board tomorrow. We'll look at film. We'll get our bodies right. Saturday, same kind of thing, and be ready to go Sunday.

But it's just an unfortunate and tough way to walk away from here tonight. We felt like we could have had that one.

Q. Now that you've had a minute to think about it, how tough was it to come back in overtime, just after the way regulation ended?
KEVIN LOVE: Yeah, it was tough. You know, we gave ourselves a chance to win in regulation, and in overtime they were just too much. We felt like we got some good shots to start, and then they just hit a couple, kept coming at us, and that was it.

Q. The buzzer sounds, you're sitting there on the bench, and now you're processing all this stuff, in that moment are you trying to get over the frustration in what happened with JR or the change in call?
KEVIN LOVE: You know, I really feel like nobody's immune to mistakes. JR's thing -- he could have gotten up and made a play, but mistakes happen.

I think the one that's really tough is I thought Bron made a great read and a great play, and in a situation like that it's very unfortunate. Very tough to see -- especially him having the game he had and know what was on the line and knowing how hard we played, to then have that overturned, it just felt like he made a great read on K.D., and he was there. He was outside the restricted, and it's just very unfortunate.

Q. Just you bouncing back, it seemed like you got involved right away. Did you want to get involved this quickly as you did as far as making plays, taking shots, looking for your shots?
KEVIN LOVE: Yeah, absolutely. We looked at a lot of film and seeing where I could be effective and just letting it fly. I just felt like I had my legs underneath me, guys were looking for me, and I definitely wanted to get off to a good start.

Q. Obviously you guys dissected a little bit of what Houston was effective. They did a very good job of getting offensive rebounds on these guys, P.J. Tucker, especially. It seemed like you guys were able to do that as well tonight. You, yourself, Tristan and Larry. Can you speak to your effectiveness on the boards?
KEVIN LOVE: Yeah, I think one of the things that we felt like we could take advantage of was that it wasn't only Tucker, as you mentioned, but also Capela and a lot of guys that felt like they could crash from the weakside. It's just being able to know when to crash and when to get back because they're so devastating in transition and finding guys for either open cuts to the basket in transition or we dunk it under a screen and they slip. You saw that late in the game with Livingston. Or whether it's Klay or Steph or K.D. coming off the shot in transition. It's just tough to stop. So you have to pick your poison in that type of situation, but we felt like we could take advantage of the offensive glass.

Q. The strategy late in the game with the switched pick-and-rolls and you got matched up on Steph and K.D. a lot, how do you think those match-ups went for you today?
KEVIN LOVE: I don't know what the numbers say, but we gave ourselves a chance to win. It wasn't just about my match-ups. I felt like I did a good job of contesting, and I was trying to send them into the two-point area, and guys had to pull over and contest. So those are tough guys to guard.

Q. It's been a talking point all year and under discussion, the relationship between officials and players and the overall theme. It seems to be that's deteriorating. There's a meeting at All-Star Weekend and all that. Where do you think the state of the game is in terms of the level of officiating compared to whenever in your career? Is it as good as it's ever been? Is it slipping? Where do you think things stand right now?
KEVIN LOVE: Just without getting myself in trouble, definitely didn't take a step forward tonight. But as far as from the beginning of the season to where we are now, it's just trying to have that open communication with them has sometimes been very hard. It's something that I think not only the players and both sides are going to try and figure a way to make it work. But, yeah, I think communication is kind of the basis of every relationship, and that needs to be better.

Q. When you feel like you've been wronged, at least on that play, can you -- any way to use that as motivation, or are you just trying to erase it? Could you -- maybe bond you guys or anything?
KEVIN LOVE: Yeah, I mean, these type of things happen, whether you could be on either side of it. It's just the way the game goes sometimes. We feel like we're going to come out on Sunday, and I know that I mentioned the two days that lead up to it. But we're going to have a great game plan and try to compete and try to send us back to Cleveland split.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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