LeBron James does it all on after spinning past the Suns' defense before grabbing the basket and the foul in the third quarter.
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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Cavaliers' week began with bad news.
With the urging of general manager Koby Altman and others in the organization, head coach Tyronn Lue decided to step away for an undisclosed amount of time to focus on his health.
That kind of adversity at this time of the season -- just weeks away from the postseason when teams are trying to "sharpen their knives," according to Tristan Thompson -- could've sent the Cavs any which way.
The reigning Eastern Conference champs could've let the latest bit of turmoil push them the wrong direction, interrupting their process and preventing them from finding a rhythm. Or they could've rallied around Lue's absence. Cleveland chose the latter, polishing off a 3-0 homestand while showing the mental toughness of a champion -- something that was questioned more than once throughout this turbulent season.
"Sometimes you have to play the hand that's dealt to you," Larry Drew said. "And certainly, it was unfortunate what happened with coach Lue. And the way our guys have responded, you go through the course of a season and you deal with a lot of different things and when you do that, you don't know whether you're going to be able to overcome it. And I think for our team, we really rallied, No. 1, around coach Lue, when the organization made the decision that he was going to step away for a few games. We rallied around him, we rallied around one another."
Hours after learning of Lue's absence, the short-handed Cavs topped the Milwaukee Bucks. Then came a statement win against the East-leading Toronto Raptors, one Drew believes can be season changing, as the Cavaliers rallied from 15 points down without five key rotation players for a three-point victory.
The promising three-game stretch ended Friday night with a blowout win against hapless Phoenix Suns, who have one win since January.
So what's it all mean?
"It says that we are very capable of persevering," Drew said about the week that was. "And certainly when you look at our year and everything that has happened, we have persevered. And to me that's a sign of a team that is mentally strong and a team that is mentally capable. Personally I'm very proud of how they've responded to everything. They could've gone the other way, but they didn't. They've responded very well."
Adversity is nothing new for the Cavaliers. Former GM David Griffin always said the team shined brightest in darkness.
There's been plenty of that. The season started with a roster overhaul, a handful of moves forced by Kyrie Irving's trade demand. Then came the first wave of injuries followed by finger pointing, losing streaks, sulking, more upheaval and a second rash of injuries.
"It's funny, we've had so much happen to us over the last three or four years, we've almost seen it all now," Love said. "Having a coach go down, it just shows us we're down but not out. A lot of guys missing for different reasons, but L.D. has done an awesome of kind of rallying the troops.
"The biggest moment at least for him was halftime of last game really brought us all together and had us come up and fight in that second half of the Toronto game. It was a good win for us today, a good week for us overall. Just shows our togetherness out there on the floor."
The Cavs are certainly hoping the toughest stretch is over. And it appears things are starting to normalize once again. James could sense it in the pregame huddle, noticing something different.
"Before we even ran out, our huddle was almost complete," James said. "It was a good step in the right direction."
On Friday night, Thompson returned after missing nine games. Rodney Hood, still showing signs of rust, played for the first time in more than a week because of an achy back. Larry Nance Jr. was flying high once again, showing no ill effects from of an injured hamstring that sidelined him the previous four games.
The picture isn't completely clear. Lue is still at home, well enough to communicate with coaches on off days and following games, but not yet to return. Cedi Osman is still nursing a sore hip and Kyle Korver remains away from the team following his brother Kirk's death.
All of that while Cavs coaches are trying to figure out lineup combinations and establish a rhythm before the playoffs.
But things are starting to come into focus. Right in time.
"Just be in the best shape of your life," Thompson said of the final 10 games. "That's how I view it. Be able to do your job at a high level when the postseason hits. I think that's all that matters. At the end of the day no one really remembers Game 65 or Game 78. People only remember what you do in the playoffs. As long as you're playing your best and on the top of your game then that's all that matters."
Despite the positive week -- which James praised because the Cavaliers have been playing the right way, sharing the ball, communicating on the defensive end and not straying from the game plan -- he's staying steady.
After all, James knows -- and has seen firsthand -- just how quickly everything can change.
The Cavaliers got a reminder of that this week, uniting to push through the latest obstacle in their title quest.
"You can have a great week like this week and then you can have a horrible week next week," James said. "I'll stay even keel. We got better this week. We played well this week. We won some really good games versus teams that are at the top, teams that are at the bottom and we worked our habits. We just want to continue to not get too high about what we just accomplished.
"We did what we wanted to do and we want to try to continue to do that going into next week."
According to Elias, LeBron James’ streak of consecutive assists w/out a turnover ended at 28 tonight (He had 2 without a turnover the night before his 17-assist game). That’s the longest streak of his career & longest streak for any player since Jimmy Butler (37) in March 2017
Chris Fedor, cleveland.com
