Love missed practice on Tuesday and remains under the NBA concussion protocol after taking a hit to the head in Sunday's Game 2 against the Golden State Warriors.
Love must clear the protocol before he can return and his status isn't expected to be firmed up until Wednesday. However, forward LeBron James didn't sound all that sure that Love will be on the floor, and coach Tyronn Lue didn't offer much way in the way of information.
When the Cleveland players began practice on Tuesday, Love remained behind in the locker room.
- -
Cavaliers forward LeBron James is undecided about playing in the 2016 Olympics and said he will make a decision shortly after the NBA Finals conclude.
James has sidestepped several opportunities in recent weeks to clarify his feelings about participating in Rio de Janeiro. He was asked about it again on Tuesday, one day after Golden State star Stephen Curry announced that he will skip the Olympics.
"I'm just now hearing about Steph pulling out," James told reporters. "But my decision has never been on anyone either playing on the team or being invited or not playing. I haven't made a decision yet and I probably will make it right after the season is over."
- -
USA Basketball announced the 25 players chosen to be part of the USA Men's Select Team and the list is full of young NBA players.
NBA Rookie of the Year Karl-Anthony Towns is the obvious omission, but Towns will be playing for the Dominican Republic in the Olympics.
Current NBA players selected were Devin Booker (Phoenix), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Detroit), Willie Cauley-Stein (Sacramento), Aaron Gordon (Orlando), Jerami Grant (Philadelphia), Gary Harris (Denver), Rodney Hood (Utah), Stanley Johnson (Detroit), Zach LaVine (Minnesota) C.J. McCollum (Portland), Doug McDermott (Chicago), Emmanuel Mudiay (Denver), Jahlil Okafor (Philadelphia), Jabari Walker (Milwaukee), Julius Randle (Los Angeles Lakers), D'Angelo Russell (Los Angeles Lakers), Marcus Smart (Boston), Myles Turner (Indiana), Justise Winslow (Miami) and Cody Zeller (Charlotte).
The head coach will be Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs.
- -
The National Basketball Referees Association called for an end to the Last Two-Minute Reports issued by the NBA to assess the accuracy of calls late in games.
While the NBA's goal is more transparency with fans, the union believes that making the reports public harms the officials and the game by potentially creating a hostile environment.
The union questioned the league's intentions on transparency and said there is no evidence to suggest the reports have helped in that regard. It also outlined reforms and recommended changes should the league continue their publication.
According to the NBA, the referees made the correct call 96.2 percent of the time on whistled plays and 87.2 percent on all plays in the final two minutes of games.
- -
Throughout much of the season, the Golden State Warriors were bombarded by talk centering around whether the reigning NBA champions could measure up to the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls of the 1990s.
Hall of Famer Magic Johnson threw down the gauntlet and claimed that his "Showtime" version of the Los Angeles Lakers would defeat the modern-day Warriors. Golden State won an NBA-record 73 games during the regular season.
"We've never seen two guys who can shoot like Steph (Curry) and Klay (Thompson)," Johnson told ESPN on Tuesday. "But they've never ran up against somebody like us I'm telling you. Whoever is going to dog me, I'm going to be wearing them down. I'm going to be wearing them out. James Worthy will be wearing them out, wearing them down. Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) is going to be wearing them out, wearing them down."
Johnson's response came on the heels of Thompson telling reporters that the Warriors "are better than the 'Showtime' Lakers."
- -
The Toronto Raptors like what they see in coach Dwane Casey and the sides agreed to a three-year contract extension through the 2018-19 season.
The Raptors did not divulge the financial terms of the deal. However, Yahoo! Sports first reported last week that it was worth $16 million.
Toronto posted a club-best 56 regular-season victories in 2015-16 en route to winning its third consecutive Atlantic Division crown. The Raptors reached the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in franchise history, losing in six games to the Cavaliers.
- -
New York Knicks president Phil Jackson insisted that his struggling team can make the playoffs in a weak Eastern Conference but conceded a few adjustments are in order for the spacing in the triangle offense.
With new coach Jeff Hornacek at the helm, the Knicks likely would have to improve significantly from last season's 32-50 finish in order to snare a playoff spot in the East. The Detroit Pistons had 44 wins to stave off the Chicago Bulls (42-40) en route to securing the eighth seed in the East this season.
