LeBron James’ leadership takes two weird turns

“He does his job, as great as any coach can do in this league”, James said Thursday morning at Cleveland’s shootaround before its night game against Milwaukee.

However, prior to their 109-97 victory over the Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks, the Cavs suffered back-to-back losses against the Detroit Pistons and the Bucks, which sparked Lebron to impose such atmosphere within the team. “As soon as the one minute and 30 [seconds] starts, we’re going to be on the court and ready to play”.

The Cavs fell too far behind in the double overtime game, needing a nice little rally in the fourth quarter to force the extra period, and LeBron James struggled with Jerryd Bayless guarding him in the second overtime, holding him scoreless in the final 3:15 of the game.

The man who’s been filling in well for Irving, Mo Williams, missed the Hawks game with a right ankle injury, and center Timofey Mozgov was also out of action with an injured shoulder. He scored nine points with a career-high five assists… As such, the moment represented a few poor leadership on his part, although Cleveland Coach David Blatt laughed it off afterwards. “Andy was one of the main reasons we won the game”.

Antetokounmpo got off to a fast start with 12 points in the first and missed just three shots all night. Greg Monroe had 17 points and 8 rebounds while Khris Middleton had 15 points.

The Bucks trailed 63-42 on a dunk by Tristan Thompson late in the first half. Marco Belinelli led the Kings with 23 points.

Bucks: O.J. Mayo made his season debut after missing the first 11 games because of a strained right hamstring…. “We know better than that, let’s put it that way”.

“He was frustrated, knew we weren’t playing right”, Cavaliers coach Dave Blatt said.

The Cavs maintained a 63-48 lead at the half before almost giving it all back.

James Harden had 24 points and 10 assists for the Rockets, who have lost six of seven.

The Cavaliers didn’t have enough time to get a sub into the game and were whistled for a technical – all while they were ahead by 26 points in the third quarter. Against a team like the Cavaliers, the Atlanta Hawks surgical precision is not the best way to compete with their physicality. I’ve known him for years through worldwide competition. That might be an unhealthy situation for a basketball team or any sports organization, but that’s the way it’s been since he returned to the team following a very successful four-year absence, winning championships and making NBA finals.

But there are bad habits developing that they want to squash now rather than later.