LeBron James stood there enjoying the moment. There were no gyrations, no pointing three fingers all over the building, no beating of his chest. Instead, he just stood there, listening to the buzz of the crowd as he ruined any chance of the Nets upsetting the Cavs on Sunday afternoon at Barclays Center.
James had just buried a deep 3-pointer from the left wing to give the Cavs an eight-point lead with 39.7 seconds to play. It was the dagger in Cleveland’s 121-114 win that handed the Nets yet another loss and helped the Cavs get another step closer to playoff form. That’s what James was enjoying in his moment of victory.
“We’re just trying to get better,” he said after Cleveland opened a three-game trip with its fourth straight win. “Even with everything that’s going on with our ball club, from our coach being out to some of our players being out for personal reasons or injuries, we’re just trying to continue to get better. That’s our goal.”
James scored 37 points on 14-of-19 shooting and Kevin Love added 20 points as the Cavs (44-29) went from being down 95-90 to leading 116-106 after George Hill made a floating jumper with 1:44 remaining. The Nets cut it to 116-111 after Rondae Hollis-Jefferson converted a layup with 1:01 remaining. But James put the game away with his emphatic 3-pointer from 31 feet out to make it 119-111.
“LeBron was once again spectacular,” said Larry Drew, who has been the Cavs’ interim head coach since March 19, when Tyronn Lue took a leave of absence for health reasons.
The Cavs are trying to find some chemistry amid a bit of adversity. Losing your head coach never helps, plus Cleveland is trying to integrate Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr. and Hill, who were all acquired in February. The Cavs played Sunday without Jeff Green, who is out with the flu. Ideally, Cleveland would want to already have found a rhythm. Instead, the Cavs are hoping it develops quickly over the final weeks of the season.
“Rodney, Jordan, and Larry, they all bring something different and it works well for our team,” James said. “When they get more and more comfortable with what we want to accomplish, we’ll become better and better. It’s a good mix for us.”
Clarkson had 18 points, while Hill had 17. Hood (16 points) was more aggressive on Sunday than he has been, which James viewed as a good sign.
“When Rodney plays with aggression and he’s a little selfish, then he’s a very dynamic player,” James said. “That’s what we want and that’s what we need. We want him to be the scorer he can be. The ball’s not going to go in every night, but when he’s aggressive like he was tonight, things happen.”
Love only returned to action this month after being out since January with a broken left hand. He was 6-of-14 with 15 rebounds and feeling closer to 100 percent. Now it’s about learning to play with his new teammates.
“We just need to trust each other,” Love said, “know when to help and not over-help on certain plays. We have to learn to play smart basketball. We’ve felt like we’ve done that this week. Today was an ugly game. We have to be better with our one-on-one challenges.”
With the nine games to go in the regular season, the Cavs are in the midst of a crash course in getting ready for the playoffs.
“We’re feeling the fact that this thing is winding down,” Drew said. “We know what the race is in the East. But the focus is to play these last nine games and develop some kind of rhythm as we wind the season down.”
Passing their chemistry test in Brooklyn was a step in the right direction.
