East Notes: Heat, Kevin Love, Knicks, Quentin Grimes, Cavs

Heat

Power forward Kevin Love said he had been looking forward to making the type of contribution to the Heat that he did in the Game 1 upset of the Bucks.

Love, claimed off the buyout market via the Cavaliers in March, finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.

“To come out and have a game like and just contribute, that was the biggest thing for me, to contribute,” Love said, via Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Make these guys’ lives easier.”

Love finished 4-of-7 shooting ion 3-pointers to boot.

“I felt like I was in a good rhythm and defensively in the right spots, and rebound the basketball,” he said, via Winderman. “Those contributions were big [Sunday], but I felt really throughout our entire lineup, guys really played a great game. So I was happy to be a part of that.”

• Coach Erik Spoelstra added that Love’s title-winning pedigree (2016 Cavs) counted for a lot. “You can just never underestimate the decorated veteran experience of guys that have been proven winners, and that’s what Kevin brought us,” Spoelstra said.

Knicks

Shooting guard Quentin Grimes said Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell attempted to rattle him when Grimes stepped to the line to shoot a pair of Game 1-clinching free throws.

“He was just like, he didn’t like the first one because it rattled in a little bit,” Grimes said, via Zach Braziller of the New York Post. “So I was like, ‘You’re going to like this next one.'”

Grimes made the second one considerably more cleanly.

“[Mitchell] tried to get in my head a little bit. I’m too tough for that,” Grimes said.

• Grimes could actually spend lots of time defending Mitchell throughout the series. “I don’t think it’s really any more pressure. I feel like I’ve been guarding the best player from the other team the whole season,” Grimes said. “So I feel like it’s just another night, for sure. Just the stakes are a little bit higher.”

Cavaliers

• On the bright side, the Cavs won six playoff series when trailing 1-0. That includes two of the brightest moments in franchise history — the 1976 Miracle of Richfield team (vs. the Bullets/Wizards) and the 2016 championship team (vs. the Warriors). In all, the Cavs have come back from 1-0 deficits six times.
• As an aside, the Cavs were 25-3 when holding opponents to 101 points or less in the regular season. In the playoffs, they’re 0-1.
• Small forward Isaac Okoro has had an uneven season, but center Jarrett Allen said the Cavs need him and will continue to count on him. “He always goes and matches up against the most talented player on the other team and we need a guy like that,” Allen told reporters. “He’s always ready for the challenge.”