Kevin Love out for Knicks game with eye injury

Late in Minnesota’s big win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, Kevin Love took a pretty gnarly poke to the eye. Love eventually ended up stumbling to the free throw line, and in a half Michael Jordan-ish display, hit the freebie without being able to really see. Love appeared to be in amazement when he saw (or at least half-saw) the shot go in, commenting to teammates that he had no idea how it went in. Love missed the second one badly, but that was the last notable moment from the incident. Or so we thought.

#Twolves @kevinlove did not practice today because of an eye injury sustained vs OKC. Will not make the trip to New York.

— Timberwolves PR (@Twolves_PR) December 22, 2012

It’s a little worrisome that Love didn’t even travel to New York, but it does give him five full days of rest before the Timberwolves play the Rockets on Wednesday. It sounds like the Wolves medical staff is playing it safe by keeping Love out against the Knicks, but if this leads to him wearing some awesome Kurt Rambis or Horace Grant goggles for an extended period of time, that’s not the worst thing.

Cool eye fashion choices aside, it’s a shame we won’t get to see how both the Knicks and the Wolves would have handled the Carmelo Anthony/Kevin Love matchup at the 4. It’s safe to say that neither guy could check the other defensively, and there wouldn’t be too many appealing cross-matchups on the floor for either team. It would have been great to watch it play out, if for nothing else than to see just how committed the Knicks are to playing Carmelo at the 4 for heavy minutes.

Honestly though? If any team can handle losing their star for a few games, it’s Minnesota. The Wolves have started 13 different players already this season, a number most teams won’t even sniff all year. They’ll be just fine.