Kevin Love joins The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to talk NBA championship, Draymond Green and Cavs chances of repeating (video)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love made an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Monday night and brought a special guest with him: The Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Before sitting down for the interview, Love handed the trophy to Colbert, who joked about the hardware feeling like a baby.
In a way it is. It’s Cleveland’s baby.
It’s the coveted championship that finally ended the 52-year title drought, as years of anger, depression and heartbreak turned into a celebration never before seen in the streets of downtown Cleveland.
For each player, winning the NBA title meant something different. In Love’s case, it was validation, silencing critics that wondered whether he was something more than a stat-stuffer in Minnesota. It was his chance to be on The Finals stage after missing most of the Cavaliers’ postseason run in 2015 following surgery on his left shoulder.
“To be back, it was pretty surreal,” Love said while reflecting on his Finals absence last year. “I remember Game 1 was actually in Oakland against the Warriors and having seen that game and having felt the energy there, I never wanted to be in a game so bad. To be back, it was surreal, it was unbelievable. To win Game 7, all the odds stacked against us, being down 3-1, having the major comeback, no team has ever done it. It was surreal.”
LeBron James has been clutching the trophy, holding onto it during the parade last Wednesday before bringing it with him to the celebration in Akron Thursday night.
On Monday, he let Love grab a hold, placing it on the seat next to him during the interview, as he relived the moments that allowed the Cavs to make history, rallying from a 3-1 deficit against the Golden State Warriors.
“Truthfully, for the last two years, we were a team that always thrived under chaos so we just looked at it as our backs were against the ropes and we knew we could get it done,” Love said. “We had all the stats and everybody talking, saying we couldn’t do it.”
It wouldn’t have been possible without some key moments late.
The Block by James will go down in Finals lore along with The Three from Kyrie Irving. But Love’s defense, not known as his strength, kept Stephen Curry from getting a clean look at a game-tying 3-pointer. Love watched the play again with Colbert and described what was going through his head during the biggest moment of his career.
“I really had to put on my dancing shoes with him because I knew he was going to throw everything at me,” Love said. “He actually gave the ball up to Draymond Green, got it back and he’s a two-time MVP so I had to do everything I could to stay in front of him. Luckily I was there.”
Love joked about Curry’s scowl, the one he directs at opponents when he believes a shot is going in.
“It’s not so great,” Love said. “It’s painful. He hit a lot of those.”
Curry didn’t in the fourth quarter of Game 7 and it helped the Cavs complete the comeback.
After the miss, James collected the rebound, eventually made one of two free throws and helped put the game away. Curry misfired on another late heave and the celebration started, with Love and James sharing a hug, a picture that has been plastered all over newspapers and websites.
“I didn’t want to be the one guy that was searching for someone to hug,” Love said when Colbert showed him the picture. “I tried to find the one person that everyone was most likely to hug and that happened to be ‘Bron. All the cameras were there, he dropped to his knees and it was a special moment, something I will always remember. That was a warm, cuddly embrace at the end there.”
The interview was loose. Colbert even brought up Green’s propensity for hitting players in the groin, which earned him a suspension in Game 5 and completely shifted the series.
“I don’t know if that was the thought process,” Love said with a laugh when asked if he felt he needed to protect his private area with Green in the game. “I don’t know how to answer that.”
Colbert didn’t want to let Love off the hook so he followed up with, “Have you had your children yet?”
“No,” Love responded. Then Colbert quipped, “Well stay away from that man.”
The two even talked about J.R. Smith’s missing shirt and how the Cavs grew to love wrestling, wearing vintage t-shirts and having the WWE make a custom championship belt that Love had draped over his shoulder during Wednesday’s parade.
“We were all into 90’s wrestling and early 2000’s wrestling,” he said. “We knew it was going to be that kind of a series, it was going to be a wrestling match. We knew it was going to go the distance.”
The Cavs have their title and they will continue a summer celebration before getting back to work. General Manager David Griffin said recently the plan is to bring the same core back in an attempt to make it two in a row.
“Do you guys repeat next year,” Colbert asked.
“That’s the plan,” Love said. “We get everybody back, we feel like we can.”
Kevin Love joins The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to talk NBA championship, Draymond Green and Cavs chances of repeating (video)
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