Cavaliers’ new coach Tyronn Lue to handle East All Stars

James led the Cavs with 25 points on an 11-15 shooting to go along with nine assists and four rebounds. “They made the last run, and that won the game”.

The Cavs struggled against the inferior Timberwolves (14-32) before going on a spurt that began late in the third quarter and carried over into the fourth.

“Anytime something happens with our teammates, our coaching staff, with our franchise, anything that’s monumental, we definitely want to represent that”, James said when asked to sum up his speech.

All in all, the night provided a much-needed pressure release for a team that had its feet to the fire the last few days after the Blatt firing was followed by a disappointing home loss to Chicago.

Rookie center Karl Anthony-Towns had 26 points and 11 rebounds and Andrew Wiggins had 20 points for the Timberwolves, who were trying to win consecutive games for just the second time since November. Prior to that, he spent six seasons as an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics under Doc Rivers, four of which with Coach Lue. Lue didn’t disagree with the idea the Cavs are nearly going back to training camp with their conditioning and new play calls. Tristan Thompson scored seven straight points and Matthew Dellavedova hit a 3-pointer, giving Cleveland a 104-91 lead.

Kevin Love scored 11 points and pulled down six rebounds in 36 minutes against his former team, while Kyrie Irving added 17 points of his own.

The Cavaliers have placed a fairly sizable bet on the proposition that their associate head coach could create the “championship culture” that their head coach couldn’t, make the sort of systemic changes that could transform a disjointed collection of talent into a reinvigorated contender, and elevate Cleveland from very good to undoubtedly elite on both ends of the floor.

“I learned this from Doc”, he said, referring to Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers.

Minnesota forward Kevin Garnett missed the game with a sore right knee.

“This is what coach wants”, James said. He left Saturday’s game against Memphis in the first half and didn’t return. Washington’s Otto Porter returned after missing four games with a sore right hip and scored 15. There were just 92.5 possessions in the game (per National Basketball Association stats), two below the Cavs’ season average and eight below the Suns’. F Adreian Payne was assigned to Erie of the NBA Development League….