Do you think LeBron James likes his head coach now? On Thursday night, LeBron helped lead a post-game celebration in the Cavaliers' locker room after Tyronn Lue set a new NBA record for most consecutive playoff wins by a first-year head coach (10) courtesy of Cleveland's 108-89 drubbing of the Raptors. Lue's players showered him with water bottles—led, of course, by the King. His team goes as he goes.
"Everybody get a bottle of water," James told his teammates before Lue entered the locker room. "Don't let T. Lue out yet...he broke a record today. Everybody get two."
You can watch Lue get doused here:
After turmoil much of last year and early on this year, the Cavaliers finally seem to be getting along, and the days of David Blatt feel like a distant memory with the team distributing praise instead of pointing fingers.
Lue opened up his post-game comments on Thursday by complimenting LeBron on passing Shaquille O'Neal on the NBA's all-time postseason scoring list (LeBron is now No. 4). He then told Kyrie Irving his "pace was unbelievable." And if you watched pre-game warm-ups, you also saw an unusually loose LeBron and Tristan Thompson dancing in the lay-up lines.
The Cavs are gelling at just the right time and cruising through the weak Eastern Conference, while their counterparts in the West are engaging in a guaranteed tough battle every game. We might get the Warriors-Cavaliers Finals showdown everyone expected at the start of this playoffs—that's TBD—but there's no doubt the Cavaliers will have had the easier, smoother road to get there.
Game 3 of Cavs/Raptors series will take place Saturday in Toronto.
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