Cleveland Cavaliers: The Method Of Greatness

The times they are a-changin’. And in the case of the Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s finally for the better. The laughing ends here. No more jeers, jokes or waving off.

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The Meshing (a term I’ve used before) finally seems to be in a deeper stage. With a roster that now includes some depth and some rim protection, the Cavs are playing harder and developing into a true basketball team that doesn’t simply rely on LeBron James or Kyrie Irving isolation plays.

With this evolution comes winning. But winning in a new way; a better way. The Cavs have gone on streaks before. They had one early in the season that lasted eight games. But those streaks were always followed by a string of losses and instantly made the winning forgettable.

But with the way the Cavs are winning now, that’s not likely to happen. They just went on a 12-game winning streak that ended in Indiana a few days ago. Unlike previous streaks where, once they finished the Cavs looked as if they might just as easily go on an equally long losing slide, they came back to crush the Los Angeles Lakers 120-105 in Cleveland.

This is the method of greatness. It’s how all great NBA basketball teams endure the regular season to end with a strong enough record to (at the very least) make an appearance in the postseason. There don’t even need to be enormous win streaks involved, so long as the team sticks to the method.

And what is it? Put simply, it’s following nearly every loss with a win and never allowing a losing streak of, say, three or four games, accumulate. If a team is mentally strong enough to handle a loss without crumbling for multiple games afterward, that’s a big step towards the end goal.

In a playoff series, it’s inevitable that you’re going to lose. You can’t take that to heart as a player. You need to use the fire from the loss to fuel your game and help your team. If you succumb to the heartache and despair of losing, then you won’t deserve to move on and most times that will come true.

Following up losses (especially tough ones) with signature performances is how teams like the San Antonio Spurs have managed to stay in the thick of things while flying under the radar. This season is a great example, since they have not made much noise by winning repeated games, yet they don’t let themselves fall into too long of a slide and thus are able to keep up with the other Western powers.

The Cavs are blessed with the gift that is the Eastern Conference, and they’re starting to make good use of it. They haven’t just been beating teams in their wins either; they’ve been blowing them out.

Check this out. These are the Cavs’ last 14 games:

@ LAL: Win, 109-102
@ LAC: Win, 126-121
Vs CHI: Win, 108-94
Vs UTA: Win, 106, 92
Vs CHO: Win, 129-90
Vs OKC: Win, 108-98
@ DET: Win, 103-95
Vs POR: Win, 99-94
Vs SAC: Win, 101-90
@ MIN: Win, 106-90
Vs PHI: Win, 97-84
Vs LAC: Win, 105-94
@ IND: Loss, 103-99
Vs LAL: Win, 120-105

Those are some solid win margins. Even the loss was close! This Cleveland squad certainly isn’t just scraping by. They’re making a statement, one that seems to be suggesting that they’re close to (if they haven’t already) figuring out the method.

Fight hard every single night, and when you’re finally overcome one game, take it with heads held high and come back the next night with just as much effort and tenacity.

This is an exciting time for the Cavs, who sit just a single game back from the third seed, which is held right now by both the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards; they each have a 32-20 record. There is plenty of time left in the season for them to gear up, continue this level of play and perhaps steal a higher seed from one of those two squads.

We’re watching a club that’s only now taking its first few steps towards solidifying what it will eventually become. That team that everyone was freaking out about last summer is coming. The gurgle in the monster’s stomach is becoming a growl.

And by the time spring comes, the Cavaliers could be roaring as the most terrifying team in the East, with the method of greatness fully embedded into their play.

Next: NBA: 50 Greatest Players Of All Time

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