Reporting from ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Zach Lowe indicates that the Cleveland Cavaliers held a players-only meeting that significantly helped the team open channels of communication.
Windhorst and Lowe credit the meeting, which was led by LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, for the team’s current four-game win streak, which was continued on Saturday night with an impressive double-digit-point win over the San Antonio Spurs:
“It was like ripping off a scab,” one team source said. “And it was exactly what needed to happen, I think it was what [Griffin] was hoping for.”
“It was very healthy for the team,” another source said. “It probably needed to happen weeks ago.”
Accountability was a key talking point during the meeting, which apparently took on a Festivus vibe with an “airing of grievances.” The Cavaliers’ three stars were involved with all of this and stressed the need to hold each other and teammates accountable for mistakes.
Previously, the Cavaliers’ month of January had been one of the most tumultuous stretches of time for any team in recent memory. The team surprised many with the timing of dismissing head coach David Blatt, replacing him with lead assistant and former NBA player Tyronn Lue, who has been presumed to be LeBron James’s favored head coach.
Before this present win streak, starting power forward Kevin Love had also been presumed to be the subject of an impending trade — rumors that’ll most likely swirl again if the Cavaliers enter a down period any time in the future.
All the while, Cleveland has maintained its place as the #1 seed in an increasingly strong Eastern Conference. Even though the Cavaliers have gone 13-3 in the month of January, though, their lead over the rest of the conference is diminishing rapidly. The Toronto Raptors are currently on an 11-game win streak and are just 2.5 games back of Cleveland.