CLEVELAND -- By the time “LeBron James” showed up on the caller ID on Tyronn Lue’s cellphone on a Thursday afternoon nearly a month ago, the Cleveland Cavaliers were in dire need of something, anything to kick-start a once-promising title defense that had seemingly gone awry.
The Cavaliers were on their way to a 7-8 record in the month of January, a shocking stain on the résumés of both James and Lue. The last time a James-led team had a losing record in a calendar month in which he played at least 10 regular-season games was back in February 2006.