There are some key players on the Cleveland Cavaliers that have little to no playoff experience, and that’s a legitimate concern. I don’t personally buy into that concern, though, as they are getting big-time contributions from both the key cogs and relative castoffs lately.
When you take a glance at the Cleveland Cavaliers’ post All-Star break record, you see that it says 14-8.
That’s decent but it’s been the last 10 games that really stands out, as Cleveland has combined the great play of LeBron James and Kevin Love with the technically sound execution of the supporting cast. The Cavs have won nine of their last ten in large part from having the league’s best offensive rating in that span, per NBA.com.
That’s notable, considering head coach Tyronn Lue has been out for nine of those games due to health concerns, as was originally reported by TNT’s David Aldridge.
He will be returning to coaching tonight against the Washington Wizards, per Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com and Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Nonetheless, since he’s been out, assistant Larry Drew has the guys taking care of business.
The rotation has been constantly reshuffled post All-Star break and there have been key players in and out of the lineup lately, too. Kyle Korver has only played in two of these last ten, Cedi Osman has only played in three and several others have been dealing with nagging injuries, too.
As the coaching cliche goes, though, that’s forced Cleveland to have that “next man up” mentality yet again.