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Playing with an Edge

Hey, Cavalier fans! It’s Austin, back from the Motor City and ready for tonight’s HUGE rematch with the Spurs tonight at The Q.

Another nice win for the team last night in Detroit. The Pistons aren’t chopped liver, but the Cavs took care of them pretty convincingly. I’m impressed by what I’m seeing. And I’m loving Tyronn Lue’s new system.

I like the fact that we’re getting the ball across the timeline quickly. We can go right into our offense on the dribble-entry.

Those are huge keys to keeping the defense running, because if you come across halfcourt and you have a mismatch, you can take advantage of it right away.

It’s a simple offensive set, but everybody has to know every position. That’s the way I was taught to play the game. If you get caught in the center position on the fastbreak, you know how to run the play – and you run it from there. You’d be amazed at how many easy baskets you get out of situations like that.

LeBron talks so much about efficiency -- and he’s been really efficient in this new offense.

His efficiency has increased because of the way the offense is set – from the three-point line to the basket or to the foul line to the basket. You have a lot of cutting and moving. And when you have a guy cutting and moving at that size – and the passes are there on time – he’s going to shoot those kinds of percentages.

This is the way I saw this team being most effective from the beginning of the season – with quick ball movement. I thought he would be this efficient and he could almost be a triple-double guy if we’re shooting well. Because he’s going to be around the basket and all the plays coming off of him will be easy to make. You saw it last night in Detroit.

LeBron talked yesterday at shootaround about being “born a Western Conference guy” because he loves to run.

I think he’d subconsciously gotten into walking-the-ball-up-the-floor mode, and I think he realized: ‘Wait a minute – that’s not me.’

But the new up-tempo system is much more natural for him, because he’s out on the fastbreak more. And those are better opportunities for him (and everyone else) scoring the ball, when we’re playing a wide-open game. And it’s really not ‘wide-open’ but it’s just the pace of the game is much faster.

And I’m liking Coach Lue’s rotations so far. Timo now realizes that he’s going to come off the bench, so he can get his mind right. And Tristan realizes he’s going to start, so he can prepare himself right. That’s what so much of the NBA is about: Being prepared mentally is just as important as being prepared physically.

When the opportunity is right, we’re starting to work Mo, RJ and Andy back in. Those are the three guys that we have to get going. Those three guys are the difference between last year’s team and this year’s. Those are three guys that we have to use, that we’re going to need at some point during the second half.

We have to get them ready to play because – and you saw this last postseason – you never know what’s going to happen. And that’s how you get through an 82-game season without getting your team beat up. Use everybody that you have.

Tonight’s game against San Antonio is gonna be a good one. It’s amazing how we’ve played all our toughest games in tough situations – on holidays, coming off long road trips or as part of a back-to-back. That’s not an excuse. It’s just a fact.

And I think we’ll be laser-focused tomorrow. They remember what happened to them the second time they faced Golden State at home. We went in with the same gameplan. And in the NBA, each game is a completely different story; you can’t go in with the same gameplan.

San Antonio is going to be different than they were the last time. Duncan is not going to play and Aldridge is an All-Star with his new team, so he’s going to feel good about himself and he’s going to be ready to play. That’s the position that they wanted to bulk up – and that’s Duncan’s position. So they’ll be just as strong, and maybe better, with a livelier player in Duncan’s position.

As far as motivation, I don’t think we have to worry about that. Having only one All-Star representing a team that represented the East in the Finals and came back to have the Conference’s best record should be motivation enough. You saw it last night in Detroit. Kevin and Kyrie took it out on the Pistons.

I’m telling you right now, this whole team shouldn’t have to worry about motivation the rest of this year. Because they’ve been totally disrespected. Totally disrespected. And they should carry that with them into every single game the rest of the way.