Cleveland Cavaliers one play explained: Kevin Love outlet passes are back

In a game that doesn’t matter, and didn’t even feature the Cleveland Cavaliers’ best player, Tyronn Lue hinted at some changes. Kevin Love, for instance, worked out of the elbow. He set up dribble handoffs for Derrick Rose. Dwyane Wade did Dwyane Wade things. It’s one game — and the key players only played for part of the first half — but there was a lot in Wednesday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks that is worth keeping an eye on in the coming weeks.

But those aren’t the plays that defined the Cavs’ preseason opener. Instead, it was a variation of an old classic:

This play — a Love outlet pass that kickstarts a fastbreak — is a Cavs staple. But normally, it’s LeBron James on the receiving end. But because he was out with an ankle injury, we got to see something new. It still hasn’t totally set in that, in 2017-18, Love can throw an outlet pass to Wade who will then pass off into Jae Crowder inside for the easy layup.

Something tells me we’ll be seeing a lot more of this next season.