Kevin Love will not have surgery, expected to miss 2 months

The Chicago Bulls are expected to be active in the days leading up to Feb.8 trade deadline despite already shipping stretch forward Nikola Mirotic to the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday.

LeBron James scored a game-high 24 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Miami Heat 91-89 Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

Love suffered the left hand fifth metacarpal fracture Tuesday during a road game against Detroit, when his hand became tangled in the jersey of Pistons forward Anthony Tolliver. Head coach Tyronn Lue does not have a grasp on the locker room, plain and simple.

Love, 29, will undergo rehabilitation to fix the injury.

Not only is Love missing the playoff push, but he’ll have to sit out the All-Star game for the second straight year. Although the Cavs were outrebounded 52-45 by the Heat, their defense came up big when it needed to late in the game. “It was a big win for us”. “It’s awful, frightful news for all of us”, said Spoelstra, who got emotional talking about Butler, who was killed along with his wife in a single-vehicle rollover in Los Angeles. “But it’s a tough blow for us”. The Heat’s game plan should be to feed Hassan Whiteside early and often, then attack the rim relentlessly.

Channing Frye scored 16 points and Crowder finished with 11 points for Cleveland. If that weren’t enough, Cleveland just lost Kevin Love for two months due to a broken hand. The Cavs announced he was dealing with a left shoulder issue before the game.

The Heat were ice cold, and almost won anyway. The Mavericks had a free throw rate of 0.163 (below the 0.217 mark opponents have averaged against Miami this season).

“I fully expect them to have it running by the time the second half of the season is in full swing”.

Heat: The tragic death of former National Basketball Association player Rasual Butler devastated Spoelstra and forward Udonis Haslem.

The Atlanta Hawks have been awful (as expected) the whole season and they need to offload as many veterans as they can while they’re still on contract in order to continue their rebuilding process with young talents. Marco is a deadly shooter and a slightly better version of JR Smith, so he could even start for the Cavs if they offer a couple 2nd rounders to get him.

Cleveland shot just 35 percent and got outrebounded, but for the first time in a long time, the defense was solid. Miami’s Goran Dragic will replace him for the February 18 game in Los Angeles. Defensively, the Cavaliers need to improve as they are 26th out of 30 teams in the league, allowing just shy of 110 points per game.

Marreese Speights led seven Orlando players in double figures with 21 points in a rout of Los Angeles at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.