Boston Celtics front court has to dominate with Kevin Love out

The Boston Celtics’ front court has to take advantage of Kevin Love’s injury

The Cleveland Cavaliers have announced that Kevin Love has entered the concussion protocol and is going to miss game seven against the Boston Celtics. Nobody is going to try and claim this is a death sentence for the Cavaliers, but it creates a new advantage that the Celtics must exploit.

LeBron James is going to put on so much pressure in so many different ways, and you cannot afford to pass up on any opportunities to get an advantage. Love has been nothing spectacular in this series, but he is still the definitive second best player on the Cavaliers, with not much depth to replace him.

After one of their worst performances of the entire season, the Celtics front court knows that they have to give a huge boost in this one, and have an opportunity to really make the Cavaliers feel the absence of their big man.

Al Horford and Aron Baynes combined for a pathetic six points and 13 rebounds in game six, and that is unacceptable against the worst front court in the NBA. Horford’s struggles against Tristan Thompson have reappeared, but the Celtics need him to figure things out, and put even more pressure on James to be absolutely perfect if he wants to get a win.

More from Hardwood Houdini

The Cavaliers really do not have a proper replacement for Love, and certainly no option that can score the way he does. The Celtics need to make sure they exploit the lack of front court depth, and they need to make sure the Cavaliers cannot get comfortable.

They do not need scoring from Baynes, but he needs to do things to help neutralize Thompson inside. They need to be boxing out properly, and Baynes needs to be the one keeping Thompson off the offensive glass.

Horford, on the other hand, absolutely has to be scoring. The Cavaliers are not going to get much of any kind of scoring from their front court, so Horford has an opportunity to give the Celtics a massive advantage.

The Cavaliers do not have a front court option that can come in a neutralize Horford’s scoring with their impact on offense, but that is why Baynes is also so important. Baynes needs to be making sure Horford gets the help he needs to be in the positions he can score in. From there, Horford should be able to handle it himself, because he should never have another game as bad as that pathetic display in game six.

Horford has been too important to the Celtics, for them to expect to win without him playing well. When you add on Love’s injury, the Celtics might need him to be their best player to get a victory in this one.

No individual player is in a stronger position to get a distinct advantage from Love’s injury, and if the Celtics squander that opportunity, you know James is going to punish them.

The Celtics will never win with one individual, but they need a collective effort to overcome what James is going to do. It is absolute essential that Horford is a part of the collective contributions, especially considering the impact he has on the players around him.

When Horford struggles it also hurts the players around him, and there is no reason Thompson should be able to destroy the front court battle against Horford and Baynes without any real option beside him.

Next: Turnovers the mosr important battle for game seven

The Celtics know they are capable of winning despite a difficult loss in game six, but it is hard to imagine that happening if they do not take advantage of Love’s injury by exploiting a far too weak front court.

Home/Celtics News