For Minnesota Timberwolves star Kevin Love Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers, it was just another day at the office. Never much for flash or flare, Love simply punched the clock and went to work. It took him no longer than just under seven minutes left to go in the first half to reach one of the most epic milestones in the history of the league.
With a free throw that gave him 10 points, in addition to his 10 rebounds he had by the end of the 1st quarter, Love's 52nd recorded double-double in a game in the '10-'11 season secured the record for the most consecutive games in the NBA's modern era.* It was also the 27th time this season he recorded a double-double in one half.
Love supplanted legendary Hall of Fame player and NBA Champion Moses Malone, who set the record in the 1978-'79 season with 51 double-doubles for the Houston Rockets. That season would end up being Malone's best statistical season of his career and would earn him the league's distinguished and highly coveted Most Valuable Player award.
The Minnesota Timberwolves found a gem when they traded for the 5th overall pick, Kevin Love, on 2008 NBA draft night in a deal that swapped Love, picked by the Memphis Grizzlies with Minnesota's third overall pick, O.J. Mayo, in an eight-player deal. He's made the Grizzlies regret they ever dealt him. Love brings, night in and night out, the kind of consistency and hustle a franchise dreams of in a young, talented star player.
Whether it's the grind at practice or in the games, the 'Wolves can always expect Love to show up with voracious tenacity, yet also with a controlled finesse that combines the mental and physical parts of the game, in sync with one another. It's his team-first workman's mentality and playing for one of the NBA's worst franchises that has made Kevin Love the most under-appreciated superstar in the NBA today.
Article comments
1 - Sazarazaah
If chamberlain was playing today he would easily break his old still-standing double double records. No question. Whos gonna stop him? Joachim noah?