Cavaliers’ Kevin Love to Miss Game 7 vs. Celtics With a Concussion

George Hill is 4-of-13 in Boston.

Friday, in Game 6 against the Celtics, his back-to-back step-back 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter sent James on a chest-pounding jog.

According to Tatum after the game, he suffered no lingering effects from the hit, although Brad Stevens said the team would continue to monitor his progress.

“It feels good just to be able to play for another game”, James said.

“I think they responded exceptionally well”, he said to reporters.

Already laboring to reach his eighth straight NBA Finals with a supporting crew made mostly of cast-offs and throw-ins, James lost the only other All-Star on the roster on Saturday when Kevin Love was declared out for the series finale with a concussion.

Though Tatum said he initially felt an impact from his collision with Love, the Celtics forward passed a follow-up examination with the team’s medical and training staff.

Tatum was examined by team physicians when Boston gathered to watch film Saturday, and Stevens said there are now no concerns about lingering issues for the 20-year-old rookie after the collision. In Game 6, he was 3-for-10 shooting with a number of the misses being attempts at the rim or relatively open perimeter looks.

Al Horford was mildly irritated when asked following Friday’s loss about what happened to his offense.

In this series, James has averaged 39 points per game at home, 27.7 per in the three games in Boston. “Luckily, I was able to finish the game”. “I think that’s when I have the most fun, when things are on the line”. Boston quickly closed the gap in the second half and had an 11-point lead of their own within a minute of the fourth quarter. Home-court advantage or not, the C’s can’t afford another night without Horford at his usual efficient self.

“(Horford) was really productive in the first quarter. It’s one more chance to rise to the occasion and prove their doubters wrong, a chance for a team that everyone ruled out a month ago to advance to the NBA’s biggest stage. He cares that our team scores. You just move on and you get ready for the next one, and you play it as well as you can.

It was the kind of game James has had his whole career in big moments, at least per usual.

“Like I have always said, “game seven” are the two best words in sports”. “I wish the best for Kevin Love because he’s a great player, and it’s been a long season”.

James has said he’ll sit down with his family after the season ends to plot his next move, and he’s already being courted in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and NY who can only dream about adding him to their rosters.

The evidence from Games 1 through 6 says Game 7 is going to turn out badly for the Cavs, because neither team has won a game on the road, and that’s where the Cavs will be Sunday.