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A night at the Loves, watching the All-Star

Timberwolves lose again, but their star is a winner

By Kerry Eggers

The Portland Tribune, Feb 14, 2011, Updated Feb 15, 2011
It’s 5 p.m. on Monday, which means game time in front of the big-screen TV in the Love household in Lake Oswego.

The family gathers to watch each and every Minnesota Timberwolves’ game via NBA League Pass. On this day, your faithful columnist is invited to join the party as they play host to the Trail Blazers at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

The group starts with only the scribe and Stan Love, father of Timberwolves’ star Kevin, who will be making his first All-Star Game appearance Sunday at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

By the end of the first quarter, we are joined by Stan’s wife of 25 years, Karen, as she returns home from her shift as nurse in the neonatal unit at Emanuel Hospital; daughter Emily, 16, a Lake Oswego High student who is into horses and works in high-fashion modeling through Leni’s Model Management London; sister Maureen Love, one of the nation’s most accomplished harpists and a regular with Pink Martini; family friend Jeff Kafoury and Karen’s mother, Carol Craig, who at 80 ranks as an astute basketball enthusiast and the No. 1 fan of her grandson.

“I watch every game,” she tells me later. “I can yell and get mad.”

Full disclosure: As a long-time friend of Stan’s, I have watched the occasional game at the home he and Karen have shared for more than 20 years, maybe a mile from the high school. It’s a warm, happy house, but it’s different now. Kevin purchased the place a year and a half ago, and a recent remodel has produced an elegant kitchen and much more upscale living quarters.

Rumors that the Loves will skirt Portland for destinations south once Emily graduates from high school are unfounded.

“This will always be our home base,” Stan says. “We raised our family here. We love Lake Oswego. Great neighbors, good people. It’s home.”

Stan takes me for a quick tour of what is soon to become his “man cave,” a room on the south side of the house where basketball souvenirs are displayed of the careers of both father and son (Stan starred at Oregon from 1969-71 before a four-year NBA career).

Kevin’s No. 13 jersey from the U.S. team that won the World Championships in Turkey last September hangs on one wall. Trophies for the Gatorade and Naismith National High School Player of the Year awards are among the most prominent. I’m glad Stan, who turns 62 in April, has included his UO Sports Hall of Fame and Helms Foundation All-America plaques among the memorabilia.

Then we’re back to the TV room, where tipoff is seconds away and Emily, lithe and winsome at 5-9, joins us. When she learns a Tribune photographer may be on the way for a shot to accompany the column, she demurs. She’s not feeling all that well, she says, and she’s not camera ready. “Honey, you look fine,” prods her father.

“Call my agent,” she says wryly.

The Loves – including Kevin’s older brother, Collin, a student at Portland State – leave Tuesday night for San Diego, where they’ll stay with Karen’s sister until heading to L.A. on Thursday. It’s a return home for both Karen and Stan, who grew up in Inglewood as part of the family that spawned the Beach Boys, with brother Mike and cousins Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson.

The family will stay at the All-Star team hotel near Staples. Stan is excited about not only the four-day reunion with his middle child, but also the party Kevin – who makes an off-season home in L.A. – and Paul Pierce are throwing at the Playboy Mansion Friday night. Snoop Dogg is the entertainment, and Stan says he is a big fan.

Each player is given two free tickets for the weekend. Kevin has purchased additional ducats for his siblings. Face value is $500 for the Saturday activities and $750 for Sunday’s game.

“Tickets are going for well over that – $3,000 for Saturday, $4,000 to $5,000 for Sunday,” Karen says. “That’s a crime, I’m sorry.”

Stan is not optimistic about Minnesota’s chances to beat Portland. Small forward Michael Beasley, the Wolves’ No. 2 scorer, is missing with an ankle injury. The Trail Blazers have won the last 15 meetings between the teams. When I offer that nobody beats the Timberwolves 16 times in a row, Stan has a hearty laugh.

Pop’s inclinations are right. Before long, Portland leads 18-2. Kevin’s not getting the ball, and as the family members roll in, they have a hard time concealing their displeasure that a player averaging more than 21 points a game is pretty much ignored by his teammates.

The conversation turns to Kevin’s reputation in the Portland community. I suggest it’s excellent. As he has achieved success in the classroom, the basketball arena and the financial world, he has maintained a humility I admire. He’s never been in trouble. He’s been a role model. What’s not to like?

“There are lovers,” Stan says, “and there are haters.”

But the Loves were buoyed by the reception Kevin got after the last Timberwolves’ visit to the Rose Garden. About 150 friends, teachers and schoolmates bought tickets and, after the game, stuck around to pay their respects.

“The school has embraced him,” Karen says. “His favorite teachers were there. It was really cool.”

The Loves feel Kevin has been shorted in the local media’s fuss about LaMarcus Aldridge exclusion from the All-Star Game.

“How can Kevin get blamed for that?” Kafoury fumes.

It’s agreed all around that both deserve the honor.

Stan is prescient, sensing a big game from Dante Cunningham early. Cunningham, not Aldridge, is defending Love, and having some success.

“I like that kid,” says Stan of the second-year Blazers who ends the evening with career highs in points and rebounds. “He’s tough. He plays hard-core defense. For a guy who’s not that tall, he works hard. I like him a lot.”

Maureen was the first of the Loves to move to Oregon from southern California back in 1980. Stan and Karen followed in 1988. Carol has been here since 1993.

“I used to be a Laker fan,” she says, “but since I moved up here, I’m going to support our team.”

“I pull for the Blazers, too,” Stan says. “I’m a total Oregon fan, I’m a total Oregon State fan – I love this state. I hope the Blazers prevail against the Lakers. I root for them except for four times a year.”

Stan was fortunate during his short NBA career to play with some outstanding talent in Baltimore (1971-73) and with the Lakers (1973-75). His favorite teammate?

“Connie Hawkins,” he says. “He was intelligent, well-rounded, spoke five different languages, understood history and art.”

But favorite teammate on the court?

“Probably Earl Monroe or Elvin Hayes, or maybe Jerry West,” Stan says. “I was lucky.”

Stan reflects back to when Kevin was an 11-year-old playing Goldenball.

“I’d see a little something in Kevin that Jerry could do or Earl could do or Wes (Unseld),” he says. “He had some of that superstar energy at a young age. It’s weird when you look back and think about that.”

“He just had it,” Karen adds. “It wasn’t anything we ever pushed on him. We just knew, and he knew, what a success he’d be.”

Minnesota has trimmed the Blazers’ lead to 56-48 at the half. Pasta, bread and salad is served. Maybe there will be a Timberwolves’ comeback. Carol gets an alert on her cell phone that Kevin has six points and five rebounds – on the way to his 41st straight double-double, albeit barely.

Kevin made the most of his one season at UCLA. So did the Loves, who struck up a friendship with the late, great John Wooden.

“During that year, we drove over to Coach Wooden’s apartment several times,” Stan says.

“Until the NCAA investigated for a potential violation, that it was an extra benefit,” Karen says. “Kevin had to tell John Wooden, ‘Sorry coach, we can’t talk anymore.’ “

Talk turns to a potential NBA lockout in the summer. Kevin, Stan says, is convinced it will happen.

“He’s going to be the most-prepared player in the NBA,” Stan says. “He’s very conservative, very frugal. He’s ready. I’m not sure about a lot of his teammates.”

Karen believes there should be a change in the collective-bargaining agreement, that players should be required to stay in college for two years instead of one.

"Kevin grew so much time his time at UCLA," she says. "Any kid would benefit from that."

Had it been legal to come out of high school, though, that's what Kevin would have done.

"But he wouldn't have been ready," Stan says. "Hardly anybody is."

Kevin, 22, remains in contact with his family primarily through text messaging.

“We text several times through the day,” Karen says.

It’s nice, Carol suggests, that Kevin so often mentions the family during interviews.

“He’s always talking about Stan,” she says.

“He’s getting a little carried away with that,” Stan notes.

“He loves his family,” she says. “He’s a family boy.”

The Timberwolves make a little run late in the third quarter to get within nine points. It’s as close as they come in a 95-81 defeat.

Carol is relieved that Kevin completes his double-double in the closing minutes. It pushes his streak to 41 games – exactly half a regular season – and he becomes the second player in NBA history (joining George Mikan) to hit 50 before the All-Star break.

The final seconds tick down.

“This was a drag,” Stan says.

Monday’s final result, perhaps, for the Loves. There’ve been too many of those for the 13-42 Timberwolves. But a great week in L.A. looms.

Readers of this post also read "Kevin Handshake" and "Kevin still working on the Handshake."