LeBron James, and 9 other reasons why the Cavaliers keep winning

After getting off to a rocky 5-7 start, the Cleveland Cavaliers have won 10 in a row. They’ve gone from a team that looked like a shell of itself to reminding the world why they’ve been to three straight NBA Finals and are on pace for another one in June.

But what is responsible for the defending champs rattling off 10 straight victories? Well, it’s a mix of one dominant player’s evolution, and everything else starting to come into place.

Somehow, some way, LeBron keeps getting better. This season, it’s from downtown:

You know it’s real when Kyle Korver says it:

“My man has worked his way into being a real shooter. Like for real. He can really shoot. His fundamentals, he has worked on it.”

LeBron is shooting 42.5 percent from three this season. During the Cavaliers’ 10-game winning streak, he’s at a 47.5 percent clip. Of all players shooting at least five threes per game, that’s the seventh-best percentage.

Some guys play at another level when they’re ticked off. LeBron James has historically been one of those guys. So it’s no surprise that when Enes Kanter took a few jabs at The King, the Cavaliers responded on the court.

After the Cavs beat the Knicks by three, they rattled off eight straight wins. LeBron averaged 27.8 points per game during that stretch.

After a down season in Orlando, Green is averaging 10 points off the bench on 48.8 percent shooting. That’s awesome!

As Fear the Sword writes:

The joy is back in Green’s game. When you see the energy he provides on the court, cheering on the bench, and the way he has connected with his teammates, it’s hard not to pull for him. While nothing is forever, maybe this experience will last long enough to be something special for the Cavs.

But will it last?

The Cavaliers made their living from downtown last season, and this year they’re back to their old tricks. Cleveland attempts the fourth-most threes in the NBA (32.4) and makes the third-most (11.9). That makes for a 35 percent clip on the season.

But during their 10-game winning streak, the Cavaliers are shooting 38.4 percent from three. That would easily be leading the league if Indiana, Utah, Detroit, and Sacramento weren’t miraculously shooting better than 40 percent from downtown (and if the Rockets didn’t rocket).

Aside from LeBron’s unconscious 47.5 percent shooting from three, Dwyane Wade has made half his threes during the streak. Jose Calderon’s at a 45.5 percent clip, and Channing Frye’s hitting the trey ball 37.5 percent of the time.

More importantly, Jae Crowder, who was shooting 28 percent from three in the first eight games of the year, is now up to 34 percent from downtown.

In his first 12 games in Cleveland, Wade was averaging nine points per game on 41.7 percent shooting. During the Cavs’ 10-game streak, he is averaging 13.5 points on 45 percent shooting. He’s been the facilitator Cleveland has needed with LeBron off the floor and the co-star James needs, at times, when he’s on it.

The modest uptick in Wade’s production has helped stabilize Cleveland’s bench unit. In short: Wade is doing exactly what the Cavs need him to do.

IT might not be playing while he recovers from his hip injury, but he’s made his presence felt every step of the way by supporting his teammates from the sidelines.

Thomas, like everyone else, is weird in his own way. Sometimes he’s in his own world:

Other times, he’s in everyone else’s:

The Cavaliers’ only traditional point guard available is Jose Calderon, but Thomas is expected to return sometime within the next two months. And if Cleveland is getting IT4 back at his Celtics prime, another winning streak could be in store.

Somehow, someway, the Cavaliers are averaging more rebounds without Tristan Thompson than they were with him. Cleveland is averaging 45.5 rebounds per game. That’s up from just under 40 boards a night before its streak began.

Five-and-a-half rebounds might not seem like much, but every rebound is a possession, which can lead to two, three or sometimes four points. The Cavaliers take and make more threes than most other teams. That means those 5.5 rebounds could lead to an extra 16 points on a hot night.

Rebounds also, obviously, take possessions away from the opponent. So while it might just seem like a number in a column on the box score, Cleveland’s spike in boards has helped drive the winning streak, too.

SB Nation’s Cavaliers blog, Fear the Sword, noticed that Cleveland’s bench is playing some lockdown defense. The whole team also plays a “blitzing” defense that was successful against Kemba Walker and the Hornets.

The Cavaliers are 11-1 since LeBron broke social media with the Arthur fist:

They are also 10-1 since Rose went down with his ankle injury and left the team to contemplate this future.

Sometimes a little drama makes for good basketball. Most times, that’s the case in Cleveland.

Hawks, Heat, 76ers, Hornets, Nets, Pistons, Clippers, Hornets, Knicks, Mavericks. Only one of those teams was in the playoffs last season, and that team traded away Chris Paul then played the Cavs with two injured point guards.

Obviously, last season isn’t this season. The Pistons look like a playoff team, the 76ers look promising, and the Knicks do, too. But it’s easier to go on a 10-game winning streak when the only All-Stars you play against are Dwight Howard, Kemba Walker, Andre Drummond, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan.

Any time you have the best basketball player on planet Earth on your team, you’re bound to go on a winning streak. LeBron is that player.

Imagine driving against LeBron as a strapping, young 23-year-old hooper thinking, “Oh, LeBron’s getting old. I can take him,” only for your layup to get volleyball spiked into the ground, into the hands of an opponent, who then begins to push the ball in a fast break:

That’s what’s at stake when you play LeBron. Your livelihood. He doesn’t care. LeBron only cares about his family and the kids he’s taking care of in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. The man doesn’t even care about basketball all that much. Why would he care about your feelings?

The Cavaliers have run off 10 straight games, and there’s no telling how long it’ll last. They could lose Saturday to the Grizzlies, or Monday to the Bulls, or they could win their next 20 games. We’ll soon know.

But one thing is for sure: It’s always fun watching them play.