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WATCH: Kevin Love's 1,000th career three-pointer lifts Cleveland Cavaliers past Toronto Raptors

Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love hit the 1,000th three-pointer of his career in Wednesday night's 132-129 win over the Toronto Raptors.
Credit: David Richard
Cleveland Cavaliers center Kevin Love (0) celebrates his three-point basket in the fourth quarter against the Toronto Raptors at Quicken Loans Arena.

CLEVELAND -- Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love has hit plenty of meaningful three-pointers in his career, but none quite like the one he knocked down in the final moments against the Toronto Raptors at Quicken Loans Arena Wednesday.

With 27.5 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and the Cavaliers clinging to a one-point lead, Love caught a pass in the right corner of the floor and buried the 1,000th three-pointer of his career, which helped bring the home team a 132-129 victory over the top team in the Eastern Conference.

“Well, I didn’t even know until after I got on the radio that that was the play,” Love said. “It just makes it even that much more special. It was ‘Bron who found me there. We knew that if he was able to get a head of steam that they were going to help, and like always, he found me.

“The ‘swing-swing’ wasn’t there. I saw that out of the corner of my eye, so I knew I had a wide-open look. I knew they were going to close out hard, but let it fly, and it was a big shot for us.”

"Closing time Kevin!"

Love with the big triple to extend the @cavs lead!#AllForOne pic.twitter.com/Rmen0MlyS6

— NBA (@NBA) March 22, 2018

Small forward LeBron James drove from the top of the key toward the hoop, and when the Raptors rotated their defense to cut off the lane, he slipped a no-look pass to the corner, where Love had an open three-pointer.

“I was just reading the defense, knowing Serge’s tendencies,” James said. “Once I turned the corner, I knew he was going to try to track me down and make a play at the rim if I went up. Once I saw him put two eyes on me, I knew I could find Kev in that short corner, and that’s pretty much money.”

By knocking down the late three-pointer, Love made NBA history and became the first player with 1,000 career triples and an average of at least 10.0 rebounds per game.

With four triples tonight, @kevinlove is the only player in @NBAHistory with 1,000 career threes and at least 10.0 RPG. pic.twitter.com/F7G1h689Fi

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) March 22, 2018

In what was just his second game back from a seven-week hiatus due to a broken bone in his left hand, Love played nearly 30 minutes in the victory.

Despite playing in his most action since late January, Love dealt with the conditioning questions and recovered to finish the game eight of 15 from the field, four of six from three-point range and three of four at the free-throw line on the way to 23 points, second-most on the team.

Additionally, Love finished off a double-double with 12 rebounds, handed out four assists and stole one pass.

“In the second quarter, I was tired,” Love said. “The last game, I felt fine playing like 25, 26 minutes, and the first wave, I thought I was fine, but that second one, I don’t know what happened to me. I had to catch myself, come in at halftime, had to reassert myself in that third quarter.

“It was definitely a weird spot for me in the second quarter. I kind of hit a wall, and I didn’t expect that at all because I put in a lot of work with (Director of High Performance) Alex (Moore) and made sure I was ready to go. I don’t know what that was there, so hopefully, that’s it.”

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