Historic Night for Kevin Love
At the 9:30 mark in the fourth quarter tonight against the New Orleans Hornets, the Minnesota Timberwolves Kevin Love recorded his 45th straight double-double. That streak passes Moses Malone’s streak from the 1982-83 season and is the second-longest streak since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976, well before Love was born.
"Wow, that’s crazy," Carl Landry told HOOPSWORLD. "I don’t know what to say about it, really, because it’s an amazing streak."
Although Love plays for a bad team, the accomplishment is still quite amazing. One of the biggest reasons is opponents are now focusing in on Love during the games, trying to stop the streak.
"It’s been that way for, at least, ten games," said Love prior to the record-breaking game. "If I have a rebound and they can get it, but they’re not sure, they just bat it out. They really don’t want me to get it. Portland was the same way and, basically, every team up to this point has been like that for the past about ten games."
Fans and media are quick to discount the streak because Love plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who are, simply, a bad team. The argument is he’s just another good player getting big numbers on a bad team. However, opponents who understand what he is doing out there each night respect him greatly.
"That has nothing to do with it," said Landry. "Not at all. For a guy to put up 40-something straight double-doubles, it doesn’t have anything to do with being on a bad team. Teams know full well about the streak and are trying to stop it. For him to keep having that streak is unbelievable."
Recently, some have begun to question which is more important to Love: team wins or this streak. When hearing of the talk, Love had strong words for those who doubt his team attitude.
"That’s their opinion," said Love. "They’re not me. I’ve said this all along that I kind of wish it would end, but, at the same time, it’s a good thing going for me. Obviously, I have goals in this league that I want to achieve, but I’m just going out there and playing hard. Whatever happens happens. That’s their opinion and if it was a shot at me in any way, then I say that they don’t know (expletive)."
{AUTHOR_BOX}What most impresses opponents is the fact Love is not the most athletic of players, yet he still finds a way to get it done each night.
"He shows that you really don’t have to have a lot of athleticism to rebound the ball and he gets it done," said Landry. "Kevin Love came in the year after me, this is his third year and he’s an amazing player. That’s all I can say."
A historic night for a young player on a bad team. If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? It is still a great achievement and something that is now in the record books.
"It’s something I’m going to remember and I’ll have more streaks like this going forward," said Love. "Maybe not like this, but I’ll have big streaks. Double-doubles are just something that comes with me playing hard."
Imagine if the Timberwolves could put a team around him to complement what Love brings to the basketball court. After all, this all occurred on a night when Love’s team lost by 14-points at home and fall to a Western Conference worst 13-46.
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