NEW ORLEANS: For only the second time since the start of last season and the first time since Tyronn Lue took over as head coach, the Cavaliers lost four-of-six entering Monday’s game at New Orleans. LeBron James, however, doesn’t believe they’re in a slump.
Two of those losses were against the two teams with the best records in the NBA. The others were at Portland and Utah, two places the Cavs haven’t won since James returned to Cleveland.
“It don’t even feel like we’ve lost four out of six, to be honest,” James said. “We’re still first place in our conference, we’re still one of the best teams in the league. It’s not a big issue. It’s things that we’ll iron out.
James played Monday night against the Pelicans despite playing 45 minutes in Saturday’s overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs. He believes brief absences by Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love disrupted some of their rhythm recently, as did incorporating Kyle Korver. James is almost single-handedly responsible for getting Korver acclimated to the Cavs.
Korver has received 99 passes in his six games with the Cavs. James has thrown 43 of them. It makes sense, since James is running the second unit and Korver hasn’t played much with the starters. But the numbers are still lopsided.
“It’s just a smart quarterback, that’s all,” James said. “If a guy’s open, he has a hot hand, you gotta try and get it to him. It’s a reason why [Ben] Roethlisberger tries to throw the ball to Antonio Brown a lot, right?”
James’ drumbeat for weeks has been the need for another playmaker — someone besides him and Kyrie Irving who can create shots for others. If and until that happens, he’s trying to remain patient while the lineup and rotation get settled again.
“You hope it happens overnight, but, I’m a process guy. You guys know me,” James said. “And yes it frustrates me at times but I understand the process and I understand the long journey. It’s a marathon, so, I don’t get too crazy when I’m able to just sit down and think about it.”
Coming soon
James is averaging more than 37 minutes per game, but that number should soon start to decrease. That’s the plan, at least. Lue said previously James wanted to keep his minutes high until near the All-Star break before tapering back for the rest of the regular season.
The Cavs have become so dependent on James, however, it will be interesting to see how they fare with him on the floor less.
“We’ll have to see,” Lue said. “I think the team is in a good spot, a good place. Adding Korver for an added dimension to our team and what we’re trying to do. We’ll be fine.”
Dribbles
James (7,137) entered Monday 24 assists shy of passing Terry Porter for 14th place on the all-time list. … Korver entered 30 points shy of 10,000 for his career. … Kevin Love’s 25 double-doubles led the team and ranked 10th in the league entering Monday. … Tristan Thompson (3,718) began the night 73 rebounds away from passing Jim Chones for sixth on the team’s all-time list.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.