LeBron James: The Cavalier Conductor

You can’t narrow down the Cleveland Cavaliers’ current 11-game win streak to one single factor. There have been many reasons for the surge: from Kyrie Irving morphing into a human-sized fireball to Timofey Mozgov providing an inside presence that was desperately needed.

But while all of the factors are of relatively equal importance, there is one that stands outside of the rest: LeBron James as conductor.

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Just think of it. This win streak, heck, a lot of wins this season simply wouldn’t have materialized without James running the show. And now that he’s taken a break to rehab his body and mind and returned looking crisper than a $20 bill, the result has been this elevated level of play from the entire squad.

When you’re the leader, especially a leader like LeBron, the rest of the team is your music. Depending on how you act, command and perform yourself, they can either create a beautiful melody strung together in harmony or a gut-wrenching screech akin to claws on a chalkboard.

Since returning, James thankfully has seen a glorious orchestra before him that is slowly but surely improving with each note. No matter how you swing it, without him discord reigned; baritone tried to overpower sax and the result was, well, a wheezing jumble.

The funny thing about a great song is that once you’ve played it a few times, the tune becomes lodged in one’s memory and it is suddenly infectious. Hence the Kyridiculous game where the point guard dropped 55 points without LeBron on the floor with him.

Winning, playing as a unit, showing grit and toughness and a will to get things done is a learned mentality. The Cavs simply didn’t have it earlier this season and with James nursing ever-present injuries, he was unable to conduct for them like he is doing now.

But don’t simply take my word for it. Let’s throw some stats in here to back up my rather flowery metaphor.

We all know what James has been doing offensively since he returned, putting up bigger numbers at an easier and more controlled rate. Over his last 10 games, he’s averaged 29.0 points, 6.9 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.9 steals on 48.3 percent shooting from the field. Even better is the fact that he’s played slightly less minutes during this time, averaging 35.9 a night.

With James on the court, the Cavs have an offensive rating of 114.0 and without him, one of just 103.9. In the month of January, his own personal offensive rating rose to 116.0, and his defensive rating improved also to 104.0 (it’s 107.0 for the season).

But who cares about offense, right? What about the sacrilegious defense that we’ve seen from LeBron in all of those Vines? Can he really be the conductor of the Cavaliers’ improving defense as well?

Damn straight he can. During the Cavaliers’ streak, the team’s defense has improved marginally, but that’s better than nothing. They’re sitting on a defensive rating of 107.4 now for the season; good enough for 21st in the league.

That’s right, that number is starting to improve right before our eyes. They still have a couple months to work on it and, with meticulous toiling, hopefully can grind it into a top-15 level defense.

Spearheading this laborious movement is none other than The King himself.

Over his last 10 games, James’ defended field goal percentage (the field goal percentage of the opponent when the player is defending the shot) has improved to 39.1 percent. For the season, his percentage is 42.5.

To give you an idea of how good this is, Klay Thompson has a defended field goal percentage of 38.1 and Tony Allen has one of 37.4; these are two of the better perimeter defenders in the league.

Many of the now infamous Vines of James playing awful defense came from before his healing hiatus, so it seems more than plausible that his injuries were causing him to appear extraordinarily lazy and indifferent as opponents drove by or shot open jumpers in his face.

How many of those terrible defensive plays have you seen from him since his return? Not very many. He may not be the defender he was when he was 26 years old, but for the best do-it-all player in the game he’s still pretty darn good.

With James’ rejuvenation also comes a change in pace, with the Cavs playing at a much faster rate than they were previously. This has led to them playing a game that opponents have a hard time matching–we hit you with lightning fast buckets and you try to keep up. If you score, it doesn’t matter. We’ll just score again by the time you’ve crossed half court.

The second half of the season (the time of truth for many teams) is near at hand. Cleveland appears to be one of the few clubs emerging from its cocoon to become a beautiful butterfly, fluttering to the sing-song music of victory in the breeze. That transformation owes a big part to its conductor, its leader.

Perhaps LeBron knows of Walt Whitman, and has modeled his game and leadership style this season in the fashion of this telling line: “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.”

The Cavaliers do go on. And what they’re contributing may turn out to be the greatest verse in their franchise’s history.

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