Kevin Love returns to Heat starting lineup. He discusses his playoff roller-coaster

Kevin Love doesn’t have to look any further than the Miami Heat’s last playoff series to remind himself how quickly things can change.

Love was in the Heat’s starting lineup for the first five games of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics before being removed from the starting group and not playing at all in Games 6 and 7. The veteran big man received his third straight DNP-CD (did not play, coach’s decision) in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday.

But on Sunday, Love is returning to the Heat’s starting lineup, replacing Caleb Martin, for Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

“For me, what I’m doing is just staying ready,” Love, 34, said ahead of Game 2. “Against Boston, them going small, [Heat coach Erik Spoelstra] made the adjustment and the adjustment worked out great. I understand that. Again, it’s just like next-man-up type mentality.

“But certainly, the Nuggets are a very big team. You saw it in the first two rounds, how we matched up against both New York and Milwaukee. I think the luxury is I’ll be sitting there waiting. If my number is called, great. If not, I’m going to support these guys the best I can.”

In the Heat’s Game 1 loss to the Nuggets, Martin started in Love’s place for the third straight game. And Cody Zeller continued to play as the Heat’s backup center against a Nuggets frontcourt led by two-time MVP center Nikola Jokic.

Of returning to a bench role, Martin said before Game 2: “I don’t think it will be that tough. I’ve been kind of doing it. I think that’s an easy adjustment and I don’t really think too much about it.”

The 6-foot-11 Zeller brings more size to the Jokic matchup than the 6-foot-8 Love, but Love will help drag Jokic out of the paint with his three-point shooting ability.

“He’s so unique,” Love said when asked about his past matchups against Jokic. “I’ve primarily played the four against him. But I think just as you saw in the Lakers series, listen, you’re not going to stop him. If you take certain things away, the back cuts and setting up other players, then he’s going to try to score 50 on you. So you just have to throw different bodies at him, big or small, try and wear on him. He comes in the paint, throw several different bodies at him.”

An injury was not the reason for Love’s diminished role over the past few games. Even after sustaining a strained lower left leg during Game 3 of the East finals, Love said Saturday “physically, I feel great.” The objective for Love in recent days has been “keeping my wind up” through the DNP-CDs.

“You just have to continue to stay ready as best you can, even if it’s on five-on-zero situations, running lines, getting workouts in, lifting,” Love said. “Just keeping the body ready.”

This isn’t new for Love, though. While the three straight DNP-CDs leading up to Sunday’s Game 2 marked Love’s first three since joining the Heat during the mid-February All-Star break, he went through a string of nine consecutive DNP-CDs with the Cleveland Cavaliers just before signing with Miami.

“I think it’s definitely fluid and it has been communicated,” Love said of his conversations with Spoelstra. “I think it is certainly a matchup kind of thing like we saw last series. I fully understand it and the level of professionalism throughout the group is extremely high and I just want to be a part of that. But if my number is called, I want to be ready.”

Ready for whatever the Heat needs in the NBA Finals.

“It probably will be similar to the last series in that it’s going to look different by the end of the series,” Spoelstra said. “You have to be open to all the different possibilities. Both K-Love and Cody are major pieces to what we do. When you’re dealing with a guy like Jokic, you’re probably going to need several bigs, and thankfully we do have that kind of roster depth at that position. They all bring something a little bit different.”

A DYNAMIC DUO

Heat veteran guard Kyle Lowry compared the chemistry of the Nuggets’ special pick-and-roll duo of Jokic and Jamal Murray to that of the former San Antonio Spurs duo of Tim Duncan and Tony Parker.

“Jamal and Jokic, they’re deadly because they both can score, pass the ball,” Lowry said. “They’re big targets, and they have a great feel for each other.”

Heat star Jimmy Butler also complimented the Nuggets’ leading duo.

“They do everything well,” Butler said. “You’ve got to guard both of them, majority of the time with two people. We’ve got to figure that out because that’s coming at us every possession — if not every possession, damn sure every other possession.

“It’s tough, no matter who it is, guarding those two guys, who are willing passers and can give you 50 on any given night. Then they have shooters everywhere on the floor. But you’re going to have to do hard things to get to where you want to get to.”