INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- NBA champion Kevin Love looks at the world just a little bit differently than regular old NBA player Kevin Love used to.His last two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers were rife with speculation surrounding his fit next to two ball-dominant players in LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Questions abounded about whether both Love and the Cavs would be better off trading him away.Love says that noise still exists; he just has learned to block it out.Theyll never be gone, Love said Friday when asked about the critics. Thats just something that you live with. We have so much hype and media and the good and the bad surrounding this team and it just comes with the territory.So, I love this team, love the coaching staff, my teammates, the organization. I mean, I dont think it will ever leave but frankly, I dont really give a s---.Cavs fans last saw Love on the court locking up two-time MVP Stephen Curry on the perimeter in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, as Curry missed what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer with 30 seconds left had it gone down.The Stop, as its affectionately been dubbed in Northeast Ohio, was followed in short order by Love becoming the first player to embrace James after the final buzzer, as tears ran down James face.Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue, who Love credited for opening up his game with a well-timed speech in front of the team late in the regular season, said hes seen a shift in his power forwards mentality during camp.It looks like the monkey is off his back because we won a championship, Lue said. Going through it last year, winning a championship and being a big part of what we do (was big for him). Those first three rounds he was unbelievable. I thought LeBron did a great job of letting Kyrie and Kevin really emerge in the playoffs those first three rounds. They got all the confidence in the world and it was big. Now we have to keep building from there.James says any change in Loves demeanor is just the medias misperception.Hes the same Kev to me, James said. Maybe hes different to you guys because you guys bring up that notion (of how he fits in), no one wants to hear that right now. Hes a huge piece to our team, hes one of our Big Three, and when we all perform well, you see what happens. You see in Game 7 when we all came to play, played at a high level, so we was able to bring that home.But, you know, he looks unbelievable, hes in shape. Not that hes ever been out of shape, but hes in great form shooting the ball extremely well, great command of what were doing, hes a good leader for our team.Love came into camp with a more sculpted physique than in the past, having spent the summer working out with Cavs training staff members in both Park City, Utah, and Los Angeles. While he was getting his body right for the season, trade rumors persisted.Did he hear them?Trade rumors, you know, I dont know, an apoplectic Love said. You lose a couple games ... No, I dont know how to answer that. No. Im here, man. I plan on being here a very long time.Despite the Cavs winning it all, Loves numbers did dip from 16 points and 9.9 rebounds in the regular season to 14.7 points and 8.8 rebounds in the postseason. He was benched in the fourth quarter of both Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference finals and missed Game 3 of the Finals completely because of a concussion.Yet Lue says Loves impact was clear.Yall keep asking the same question, Lue said. Its sacrifice. When you have three great players, everybody is not going to have the ball and have the same numbers they had on other teams. Its like when Chris Bosh went to Miami. Thats how weve got to treat Kevin. Its the same way. That dont mean hes not a great player, it means hes the one whos got to sacrifice. To win you have to do that.Love wants to keep on winning. The championship might have steeled him, but it didnt satisfy.Of course hanging a banner is huge for us and I shook all of your guys hands at the parade, it was an amazing time, Love said, but now its back to work and well do it all over again. So, lets go to work. Clearance NHL Jerseys NHL Jerseys China .4 million title. 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ATLANTA -- Evan Gattis just keeps coming through for the Atlanta Braves. The rookie hit a two-out, pinch-hit homer in the ninth to send the game to extra innings and Freddie Freeman won it in the 10th, sending the Braves to their fifth straight win, 5-4 over the slumping Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night. Freeman blooped a two-out single off Brian Duensing (0-1) to bring home Jason Heyward, handing the Twins their seventh straight loss. But Gattis was the talk of the clubhouse after his third pinch-hit homer of the season -- and second in four days. "Im kind of getting used to it," he said with a shrug. His teammates were left shaking their heads. "Its awesome to see," said Braves starter Tim Hudson, who worked five solid innings despite a lengthy rain delay. "People around the league are scratching their heads, trying to figure out how to make sure he doesnt put the ball in the seats." Gattis, who surprisingly made the team as a non-roster player, has been a key contributor all season. He was NL rookie of the month in April, getting plenty of starts while the Braves battled a string of injuries. Now, with all the regulars healthy, hes showing what he can do off the bench. It was his ninth homer of the season, four of which have been tying or go-ahead shots in the eighth inning or later. "I dont know how to explain it," Freeman said. "Its incomprehensible." Duensing got the first two hitters in the 10th, but Heyward doubled off the wall in left-centre. Justin Upton was intentionally walked before Freeman came through on a 3-2 pitch for his second RBI of the game. "It wasnt the prettiest swing," Freeman said, "but it got the job done." Gattis was looking for a pinch over the inside part of the plate. He got just what he was looking for on an 0-1 slider from Twins closer Glen Perkins, sending a drive deep into the left-field seats. "I was trying to hit the ball hard," Gattis said. "I dont try to hit home runs. It just happened." Trevor Plouffe and Ryan Doumit had RBI singles in the eighth against the depleted Atlanta bullpen, giving the Twins a 4-3 lead. They were one out away from snapping their slide, but Perkins couldnt finish the job. "I think he guessed right," Perkins said. "Youve got to make good pitches. That guy, hes up there to do one thing, and he did it." Craig Kimbrel (1-1) worked a scoreless 10th for the win. Brian McCann homered and drove in two runs for the Braves, while Hudson pitched around a 1-hour, 26-minute rain delay -- but they were afterthoughts in light of the dramatic comeback. The Braves bullpen, which lost two key relievers to season-ending surgeries in the past week, surrendered the lead in the eighth. Luis Avilan retired only one batter, giving up a hit and a walk..dddddddddddd Plouffe tied the game at 3 with a slow roller off Cory Gearrin that got through the hole between first and second. Doumit followed with another hit to right, this one much sharper, to put the Twins ahead. "We made a nice comeback to get back in the game," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Our bullpen did just a super job of shutting everything down." Until the end, that is. "A tough one," Gardenhire conceded. Hudson gave up five hits and two runs while striking out five. He bounced back from two rough starts, having allowed 11 runs in 8 2-3 innings in losses at San Francisco and Arizona. Anthony Swarzak pitched four solid innings in relief of Minnesota starter Mike Pelphrey, who gave up two runs in the first and was lifted after a fierce storm suddenly popped up with the Twins batting in the third. The umpires wasted no time calling for the ground crew, which struggled to get the tarp over the infield amid blinding rain and whipping winds. Then, as the storm began to break almost as quickly as it appeared, a power surge knocked out the lights and video board at Turner Field. The board came back on in a matter of seconds, but the lights took much longer to fire back up. Hudson was ready to go. "That was at least Double-A lighting," he quipped. "The kids in the bushes do it. Why cant we?" With the field fully lit, Hudson quickly gave up an RBI single to Justin Morneau, tying the game at 2. Leading off the fourth, McCann lined a pitch off Swarzak into the right-field seats that put the Braves back on top. Anthony Varvaro threw two scoreless innings for the Braves, but a bullpen that will have to do without Jonny Venters and Eric OFlaherty the rest of the season couldnt hold the lead. Turns out, that just set things up for another turn at hero by Gattis. "When I saw him going up there to hit," said Freeman, who also had an RBI double in the first, "I had a feeling we were going to be playing a little longer." Notes: The Twins will start RHP Samuel Deduno against the Tigers on Friday. He will take the spot previously held by LHP Pedro Hernandez, who was demoted to the minors on Monday. "He can wing it," Gardenhire said of Deduno. "Youre going to get a guy whos going to put fear in peoples hearts." Deduno starred for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic before sustaining a groin injury pitching in the final. He spent six weeks recovering before joining Minnesotas Triple-A team at Rochester. ... Braves RHP Jordan Walden (shoulder inflammation) played long toss before the game but isnt likely to be activated Monday, when he is eligible to come off the disabled list. Manager Fredi Gonzalez believes Walden will need a couple of minor-league starts before he returns to Atlanta. ' ' '
