Cavs: 3 stars from back-to-back wins over Atlanta and Denver

The last time the Cleveland Cavaliers won back-to-back games prior to this weekend was the first week of April last season, games 50 and 51 of the 72-game season. Those two wins were over a pair of non-playoff teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. You have to go back into late February to find a multi-game winning streak containing two teams that made last year’s playoffs.

That is what makes the last three days for the Cavs that much more impressive. They not only won two straight games, but they did it against really solid opponents. The Atlanta Hawks made the Eastern Conference Finals last season, while the Denver Nuggets won a series. These are two very good teams, and so for the Cavs to pull out wins against both is an impressive feat.

Who gets the credit for the Cavs’ wins over Denver and Atlanta?

Winning any game in basketball is a team effort, and certainly, a number of players and head coach J.B. Bickerstaff all deserve credit for the pair of victories. Yet we are going to reach across the aisle to another sport to highlight a few players who were the most significant factors in the back-to-back wins.

The tradition in hockey is to hand out three “stars” to a game’s top three performers. The “First Star” goes to the best player, and accordingly, the second and third stars are handed out from there. With this format in mind, which three players deserve stars for their performances across the two wins?