It’s been exactly two weeks since LeBron James returned from an extended layoff, and the Cleveland Cavaliers have been positively clobbering the competition during that prosperous fortnight.
In the Cavaliers’ seventh straight win, they squashed the host Detroit Pistons, 103-95, Tuesday night, thanks to 38 points from Kyrie Irvingand 32 points from King James. NBA TV noted the win:
According to ESPN Stats and Info, James and Irving did most of the heavy lifting for a Cavaliers offense that shot just 41.9 percent from the field and 26.5 percent from three:
Cleveland is now 25-12 with James healthy this season, including 7-1 since Jan. 13.
Not only are the Cavaliers making strides on defense—holding five straight opponents under 100 points—but the franchise cornerstones are jibing in conjunction with the team’s rise in the Eastern Conference standings.
Here’s a look at how James and Irving have each performed since the former’s return against the Phoenix Suns:
| Player | PPG | APG | RPG | FG% |
| LeBron James | 30.5 | 6.4 | 6.8 | 50.6 |
| Kyrie Irving | 22.6 | 5.5 | 2.9 | 51.9 |
NBA.com
Throughout that stretch, you’ll notice James has operated as more of a primary distributor. According to NBA.com, James’ assist percentage has hovered at 31.5 over the past two weeks, nearly nine points higher than Irving’s.
If that trend feels familiar, that’s because it is. During his final season with the Miami Heat, James topped the team’s distributive charts by assisting on 31.1 percent of its buckets.
On the most basic level, points seem to flow at a steadier rate when James works primarily on the ball. Namely, the significance of his ability to penetrate can’t be overstated, as it continually draws the attention of defenders and frees up perimeter shooters like Irving to thrive from deep.
“That’s the luxury of playing with a great player like LeBron,” Irving said following Tuesday’s win, according to The Associated Press (viaESPN.com) “When he’s on the floor, you know there are going to be things opened up for the rest of you. Tonight, we had a lot of open shots, and we got enough of them to go down.”
CBS Sports NBA tweeted some on-court photos of Irving and James:
Not only did Irving account for six of Cleveland’s nine made treys on Tuesday, but he ranks tops on the Cavaliers in conversion rate from beyond the arc during the magical eight-game span at a mark of 51.2.
Outside of James and Irving’s two-man brilliance, head coach David Blatt’s recent five-man unit of choice has been purely dominant in a small sample to date.
According to NBA.com, James, Irving, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith and Timofey Mozgov have recorded a net rating of plus-29.3 points per 100 possessions, dropping offensive and defensive ratings of 119.5 and 90.2, respectively.
Those numbers are bound to regress toward the mean a bit as the sample expands, but the role each member of that lineup has seamlessly filled has been uncanny. To that, Blatt owes serious thanks to general manager David Griffin.
And with Cleveland now just 3.5 games back of the fourth-seededChicago Bulls with three sub-.500 opponents on deck over their next four games, the potential exists for the Cavaliers’ run to continue for the foreseeable future.