CLEVELAND – Kevin Love predicts more will stir inside of him when he returns late next month to play in Minneapolis, the place he called home for his first six NBA seasons.
It won't be difficult to surpass what surfaced Tuesday when he played his former Timberwolves mates — at least the few healthy ones left whom he knows and recognizes — for the first time since last summer's trade that sent him to Cleveland for No. 1 overall picks Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and veteran Thaddeus Young.
"I didn't really feel much of anything, to be honest with you," he said afterward.
What he did feel was some alarming pain in his right thumb early in the third quarter, when he went to the locker room after just 43 seconds. He had it taped at practice Saturday after he got it stuck and jammed in an opponent's jersey in a game against Brooklyn last week.
He returned to action four minutes later and delivered what he did so many times for the Timberwolves, a double-double (20 points, 10 rebounds) game.
Of course, his injured hand inspired at least a couple of smart alecks on Twitter to inquire whether knuckle-pushups were the cause.
"It scared me initially," Love said. "We came back here and it just seems to be a mild, little thing. I shook it off and went back in there and played."
He played on with few emotions swirling inside him.
