‘Hunter versus the hunted,’ Heat’s Kevin Love finds tables turned as playoff underdog

MIAMI — Life on the other side, Kevin Love said, has its advantages, even with the odds longer, the challenges greater.

Before joining the Miami Heat last season, every career trip to the playoffs for Love came as a favorite to advance to the NBA Finals. It either was ultimate success — or ultimate failure.

Then, after leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers a year ago to sign with the Heat on the buyout market, the playoff equation changed.

Unlike those previous 13 postseason series alongside LeBron James, Love found himself as a playoff underdog, four times last year and now in this first-round series against the Boston Celtics .

“It’s like the hunter versus the hunted,” Love, 35, told the Sun Sentinel. “I certainly feel like that underdog mentality and being overlooked was certainly part of our identity last year, because our highest drafted guy was Cody Zeller, and then me and Bam (Adebayo). So I certainly think we adopted that last year, as well as being a play-in team that made the eighth seed.”

With the Cavaliers, the pedigree was of ultimate talent, James the No. 1 overall pick in 2003, Kyrie Irving the top selection in 2011.

With the Heat, beyond the supporting role Zeller played last year before leaving in free agency, there is Love, the No. 5 pick in 2008; Adebayo, the No. 14 pick in 2017; Tyler Herro, the No. 13 pick in 2019.

That is in contrast to the Celtics featuring a pair of No. 3 picks in Jaylen Brown (2016) and Jayson Tatum (2017).

So the external expectations have been down, but not the internal desire.

“Here, even in my 16th year in the league, Miami’s always been a team that competes,” Love said ahead of Monday night’s Game 4 of this best-of-seven Eastern Conference playoff series against the Celtics. “They’ve never out of it. But I do like the feeling of being the hunter, as well.”

In Cleveland, there were four trips to the Finals but only one championship for Love, which some viewed as underachieving.

“We had so much expectation, and we were expected to go to the Finals, if not win,” Love said.  “So definitely having that kind of change of expectation or identity definitely brings a whole different look and feel to a playoff run.”

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The difference in Cleveland was that the identity for Love was as a leading man, starter, essential contributor.

Now for the veteran big man it is as supporting player, and at times not even that.

As was the case with the Heat in last season’s Eastern Conference finals against Boston, Love’s role has become limited in this Celtics series, his limited mobility not optimal on the defensive end against the likes of Brown and Tatum.

“I think it’s on me just to stay ready, whether it’s plug minutes or a longer stint, or just understanding that this is a team that you have to switch against a lot,” he said of the Celtics. “I think naturally that plays to a lot of guys’ strengths and there’s certain lineups where we do that, whether we go small or plug Niko (Jovic) in at the five.”

All with an understanding that coach Erik Spoelstra has to do what is best for the team.

“It’s something that we either have the conversation or it’s unspoken, or I understand this type of scenario,” Love said. “It’s not unlike last year. I played, I think, the first three and then we kind of inserted Haywood (Highsmith) into the next four games and ended up winning in seven games.”

To Love, it is all about appreciating the moment, now as underdog, but also with the belief that a contribution still could be around the corner.

“I think certainly on the offensive end, I know what I’m capable of, and I know I can take advantage of that,” he said. “But I think chasing those guys off of screens and switching, I guess hasn’t always been in my bag, as we would say.”