Make no mistake about it: Despite his victory in the three-point shootout over the All-Star break, Kevin Love was embroiled in a slump. It wasn't a long one -- five games -- but it was significant and perhaps explainable.
In three games before the break and two games after it, Love was a combined 29 for 97 (29.9 percent) from the field, and he didn't shoot better than 32 percent in any of those games. The marksman was also 2 for 17 from three-point range, continuing a trend that had seen him actually shoot worse from long distance this year vs. last year.
If we had to guess at reasons, we would say three games in four nights going into the All-Star Game -- a rough stretch of home-away-home in an already compacted first half of the season -- played a role in starting the slump. Then he got no rest at the break, suffered a minor injury in his first game back against the Clippers (missing the fourth quarter and then the next night's game against the Lakers) and came back the following night to finish his five-game slump against the Suns. Somewhat remarkably -- and a testament to the depth of this year's team -- the Wolves went 3-2 in those games (3-3 if you count the one Love missed).
And these last two? Well, it's as if Love is channeling Kirby Puckett and telling the squad to hop on his back. He has been nothing short of remarkable in back-to-back wins over Portland and the Clippers, going for a combined 81 points and 27 rebounds, including a combined 10-for-18 from three-point range. His effort last night might be the best game we've ever seen him play if you factor in the early range, the ferocious rebounding and the big shots down the stretch. We're guessing fresh legs had something to do with it (the Wolves didn't play games before both of his big nights).
It will be interesting to see if he can keep the roll going in the second half of the season, when he might be able to stay a little fresher. The Wolves still have seven sets of back-to-back games left, but all except two are either home/home or road/road at reasonable destinations. They have already endured both groups of back-to-back-to-back games and nine other back-to-back sets, so the fatigue factor might not be quite as significant in the final 27 games. It will be also interesting to see if opponents can be successful in trying to push him to the far right one-third of the court, which is clearly not his shooting sweet spot.
