Kevin Love has yet to make an All-Star Game since joining the Cleveland Cavaliers as he's sacrificed some of his individual achievements to be part of a title team.

Love has made a strong case to be an All-Star this season.

"I think you come in every year hoping to play well, play your best and I believe in my heart every year -- and it's not like I forgot how to play -- I'm an All-Star caliber player. I don't necessarily need All-Star appearances to show that," Love told cleveland.com recently. "If we continue to win and we keep playing well I think there's a goal and it's within reach. But it's not something I'm going out every night saying I have to be an All-Star.

"I also think the fact that us winning a championship and winning changes a lot of people's perspective on things and you don't really know what that means until you go through that. I think that is different. You mentioned that being the end goal. You have individual goals but it has to fit within the landscape of what we're doing."

"He's the Kevin Love of old and this is everything we expected out of him," LeBron James said. "That's what we want out of him. But there's no added pressure for him. He's going out and just playing his game right now. He's at a point where he's just comfortable with everything and it's great to have him."

The NBA said Richard Jefferson should have been called for a foul on the final play of the Cleveland Cavaliers' 109-108 win over the Golden State Warriors when he made "foot contact" with Kevin Durant. It was determined to have affected Durant's SQBR (speed, quickness, balance, rhythm) on the play.

The game ended with Durant missing a 34-foot 3-point attempt from the floor as time expired.

"I fell," Durant said. "And I didn't fall on my own."

The league also determined that LeBron James' dunk with 1:43 remaining, which put the Cavs up 105-103 and gave them their first lead since the first quarter, should have resulted in a technical foul for "deliberately hanging on the rim" after the dunk was completed.

J.R. Smith will miss the next 12 to 14 weeks after undergoing surgery on his broken right thumb. The surgery repaired a complex fracture. If Smith returns at the beginning of that timetable, it would be the middle of March.

Smith suffered the injury against the Milwaukee Bucks this week.

Smith will now undergo a period of recovery and rehabilitation for his thumb.

George Karl wrote critically of J.R. Smith in his new book while also referencing his "posse."

Karl coached Smith for several seasons with the Denver Nuggets.

Karl wrote Smith had "a huge sense of entitlement, a distracting posse, his eye always on the next contract and some really unbelievable shot selection."

Phil Jackson's use of the word posse in reference to LeBron James elicited strong rebukes from both James and his business partners.

J.R. Smith has suffered a broken right thumb during their 114-108 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Smith will undergo surgery and miss an extended period.

Initial X-rays taken at the arena were inconclusive, according to the Cavs. Smith will travel back to Cleveland with the team and be re-evaluated Wednesday before the Cavs host the Bucks on the second night of a back-to-back.

Smith previously missed five games because of knee and ankle injuries this season.

Smith reportedly suffered the injury when he swiped down on Giannis Antetokounmpo. 

Kevin Love experienced a left knee contusion (knee to knee collision with Larry Nance Jr.) during the Cavaliers home game on Saturday, December 17th vs. the LA Lakers.

Love is continuing treatments related to the contusion and will not travel to Milwaukee with the Cavs to play the Bucks on Tuesday night in Milwaukee.

Love is now listed as out for the game in Milwaukee and questionable for the game on Wednesday night, also against the Bucks at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

Chris Anderson suffered a non-contact right knee injury on Friday during practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts.

After undergoing evaluation at the facility, an MRI administered at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health by team physician Dr. Richard Parker confirmed that Anderson suffered an ACL tear that will require season ending surgery. Anderson’s status and recovery time will be updated following his surgery.

Anderson, who signed as a free agent this summer, appeared in 12 games this season with averages of 2.3 points and 2.6 rebounds.

David Fizdale doesn't expect LeBron James to become an NBA head coach in the future.

"No," Fizdale said when asked about James' possibly coaching. "He would kill somebody. Perfection is like [his standard]. He wants perfection. I could see him actually owning his own team and doing something like that, but I think [as a coach], he would end up killing a player at some point because they wouldn't live up to the expectations that he would set forth."

James has expressed interest in owning an NBA team in the future.

"Yeah, he's a little right," James said when informed of Fizdale's comments. "I don't have, my patience is not -- you've got to be very patient as a coach. I don't think I have that much patience. Not that much."

Fizdale said he considers James "a one-percentile guy when it comes to basketball intelligence."

When DeAndre Liggins was at Kentucky, he was told by John Calipari that he would have to play defense in order to win consistent minutes in the NBA.

The message stuck with Liggins and he started looking at the way Tony Allen plays.

"His grit, his toughness," Liggins said of his admiration for Allen following Monday's practice ahead of back-to-back games against the Grizzlies. "My thing is to stay ready and my opportunity has presented itself and just come in and bring that tenacity on the defensive end, take open shots and make them."

Tyronn Lue can see the comparison as he was an assistant coach with the Celtics when Allen was on the team.

"Defensively, yeah," Lue said. "T.A. (Tony Allen) is smaller, but I think he might be stronger -- T.A. is a strong guy. Liggs can shoot it better. T.A. actually played point guard for us for 10 games I think and did a great job. He's a very smart player. It's crazy to see that you play the 2 or 3 and then move him to the point guard and he knew all the plays, all the positions and it's crazy. They have similarities for sure. If (Liggins) can keep playing like that then I mean, T.A. won a championship. Tough, gritty player that everybody would love to have on their team."

Liggins has played overseas and has also been named the D-League Defensive Player of the Year on two occasions. 

Liggins grew up in Chicago as Allen did.

"Me and T.A. we grew up kind of in the same dirt," Liggins said. "We always have that competitive edge to us, that chip on our shoulders and teams like that. Every team needs a guy like that on their team to pick up a guy 94 feet and to make a guy rattled a little bit. That's what I bring to this team."

LeBron James and Marc Gasol have been named the NBA's Players of the Week.

In four games this past week, James led the Cavaliers to the best record in the Eastern Conference at 4-0 after he averaged an NBA-high 32.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 2.25 steals in 38.5 minutes. He shot .585 from the field and .409 from the three-point line. 

Gasol averaged 27.3 points, 10 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game for the Grizzlies.