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Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue making all right moves, and non-moves, during his first days on the job

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CHARLOTTE, N.C.: The roots of his 11-year playing career are starting to emerge in Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue. He refuses to stand much during games because his knees hurt and, more importantly, guys should know what they’re doing by the time the ball goes up. That’s why they practice.

Similarly, when a sluggish start to the third quarter Monday cost the Cavs nearly all of their 11-point halftime lead to the Indiana Pacers, Lue again refused to stand. Players were looking for a timeout. He wouldn’t budge.

“I wouldn’t even look at them,” Lue said after the game. “I was like, ‘Y’all dug this hole, then get out of it.’ ”

He conceded it was an old trick he learned from Phil Jackson, whom he played for in Los Angeles. Gregg Popovich has been known to do it, too. If it didn’t work, if the Cavs lost, Lue would’ve been criticized for not stopping the Pacers’ momentum. Instead they broke out of their isolation funk by running pick-and-roll with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving and ultimately escaping with the win.

The Cavs seem to be in one giant transition right now, but they’re still winning while they do it. New assistant coach Mike Longabardi is getting brought up to speed on the defense, although he speaks a similar language as Lue from their time together in Boston.

Still, the two don’t always agree on everything. Longabardi is already in charge of the defensive film sessions, a role Lue held under David Blatt. When Longabardi says something Lue disagrees with, he’s quick to cut him off, one player said. A discussion typically ensues among coaches and players — and then Lue usually gets his way because he’s the head coach.

Still, overhauling the offense, ingratiating a new defensive coordinator and managing egos while keeping the Cavs in first place is a lot to ask of anyone, particularly a rookie head coach.

Thus far, Lue is thriving.

“Obviously his voice is more the command now,” LeBron James said. “When you’re the head coach, you’ve got to be more in command and holding guys more accountable. That’s part of your job and he’s doing a great job of that. For us, we’re just listening to his voice and holding his commands accountable and going out and playing.”

Perhaps stung by the avalanche of criticism he received following Blatt’s firing, James has deferred to Lue on nearly everything in recent days.

Asked about how he measures whether the defense played well, James said, “Whatever the coach says. … If he says we played hard and we had a great defensive game, then we’ll go by that.”

Asked about Lue’s refusal to call a timeout when the game was unraveling in the third quarter Monday, James said, “We’re looking for whatever Coach wants us to do and obviously he wants us to play a lot better in the third quarter.”

And when asked if Lue’s messages are getting through to the players, James said, “Coach Lue is the captain. He’s the captain of our ship. We got to do whatever it takes, do whatever he barks out.”

Lue has been referred to as a player’s coach and he clearly has the respect of James and the rest of the locker room, and it again may date back to his playing roots. He played against James for years. He was teammates with Richard Jefferson. At 38, he’s only three years older than Jefferson and not far removed from his own playing days.

“I don’t quite know what a [player’s coach] is,” Lue said. “I played, then I coached. I know how to treat the players because I’ve been in that position. Guys who are not playing a lot, guys who don’t play, guys who are playing. You’ve been in that situation before, you can kind of talk guys through it when they’re struggling with different situations, you can kind of help guys through it because you’ve been through it as a player.”

Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.


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