Everyone knows that the Cleveland Cavaliers have started off slowly this season, but can you really blame them? The team is trying to integrate several new stars and role players into a squad that won just 33 games last season. They have a first-year head coach. To expect things to go smoothly from the get go is just naïve.
But the Cavs seem to be gelling together of late. They've won five straight games and have only allowed an opponent to top 100 points once in that stretch. The team's offense is trending in the right direction and they have some winnable games against the Brooklyn Nets and Charlotte Hornets coming up.
So how did they get on track? It all started last month when the Cavs lost to the Utah Jazz and Kyrie Irving didn't produce a single assist.
"He [LeBron James] was playing off the ball. This is where the Cavs have made incredible strides over the last month. Since the Utah game, LeBron has taken over basically as the point guard and Kyrie has allowed him to do it," ESPN's Brian Windhorst wrote.
"(Against the Knicks) you saw LeBron running the show and Kyrie being the No. 2. The difference was LeBron was setting people up. The team had 19 assists. LeBron had 12 of them, six of those assists went to Kyrie. He put up 37 points on a night when LeBron isn't going great offensive and his assists didn't matter as much because the team was operating differently.
"Because he's giving less energy on the offensive end, Kyrie is expending that energy on the defensive end playing some of the best defense of his career."
Give head coach David Blatt credit for recognizing the flaw and making a change to fix it. Blatt has also started leaving Irving on the floor at the beginning of the second and fourth quarters during James' time on the bench, freeing him up to be the No. 1 option for stretches at a time.
