Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Kevin Love did not get his toughness on the court during his college days in UCLA but rather its traces way back to his elementary school days. Love made headlines earlier this season by becoming the first NBA player since Moses Malone 28 years ago to have a 30-30 game. The 6-10 California native scored 31 points and grabbed 31 rebounds in a 112-103 win over the New York Knicks last November 12. Love, who was the 5th pick over-all in the 2008 NBA draft by the T-Wolves, is currently having a career year with averages of 21.1 points per game and a league-best 15.8 caroms an outing in 39 appearances so far this season. Love says his toughness was acquired while playing b-ball games of eight-on-two and sometimes fifteen-on-two during his days at Uplands Elementary School in Lake Oswego, Oregon, according to a December 13, 2010 issue of the ESPN The Magazine.
“When I was at Uplands Elementary School in Lake Oswego, Oregon, nobody wanted to play basketball against me and my best friend, Ernie Spada. So to get a game going, we’d agree to play eight-on-two or sometimes even 15-0n-2. It was during those games on the school blacktop that it first became apparent I could dominate. In sports, you normally want to go after the weakest link, but everyone wanted to challenge me because I was so big. Some of the kids would even try to hit me. I learned how to be tenacious, grabbing every rebound, although afterwards my knees, nose, and elbows were scraped and bruised. I don’t remember a recess that we weren’t wiping off a bit of blood when it was over.”
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