Tyronn Lue pushing all the right buttons during Cavs' unbeaten streak

Despite what some opponents say, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a superteam. That's what the league's highest payroll and the presence of LeBron James will fetch you.

However, talent can be a double-edged sword. That's the lesson learned from David Blatt's rude dismissal. While the Cavaliers racked up wins under Blatt at a 67 percent clip, it was clear from the outset he was presiding over a broken locker room. Blatt was afraid to challenge James, and it created a division among the players.

While biding his time as the lead assistant, Tyronn Lue studied Blatt's mistakes so that when he became his successor, he knew what not to do. His team didn't lack talent - they lacked structure.

Lue wrestled with the head of the snake. Sources told CBS' Ken Berger that Lue once told James in a huddle, "Shut the (expletive up). I got this." Contrast that to when the King nailed a game-winner in last year's playoffs, then bragged about scrapping Blatt's play call. James has beckoned to Lue, not the other way around.

Having won the respect of his best player, all the other dominoes fell in place. Lue went on to implement several key tactical adjustments - without resistance - to spur an unbeaten run through the postseason.

LeBron at power forward

Despite finding tremendous success with the strategy as a member of the Heat, James has largely resisted playing at the four-spot in his return to Cleveland.

James has embraced the role in this year's playoffs, giving opponents fits. With his athleticism, playmaking, and ball-handling ability, there's no team in the league that can stop James in space as the roller.

James made the Raptors look downright silly in Game 1 when he was the roll man.

Granted, James is only logging 38 percent of minutes at power forward in this playoff run, compared to as high as 92 percent in previous seasons. But with the Cavaliers finding so much success with their bigs, James hasn't had to expend energy banging in the paint. It's a nice option for Lue to have in his back pocket, though, should he end up facing a small-ball team like the Warriors.

Empowering Love

Kevin Love, for the most part, has been an enigma in his time with the Cavaliers. With two other stars dominating the ball, Love had been prone to falling into spells of hesitancy in which he didn't look to shoot.

From Day 1, Lue sought to change that. He promised to get Love more touches at the elbow. That worked for a month, but then Love fell into another slump in March. That's when Lue swapped the carrot for the stick.

"You're a bad m-----f----- too," Lue told Love, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com. "Play like it."

Since the pep talk, Love has looked at every opportunity for his shot. He's given both James and Kyrie Irving a dynamic partner in the pick-and-roll, and he's firing threes at a rate that would make Stephen Curry blush.

Through nine playoff games, Love's attempting 7.7 threes per game while hitting 44.8 percent from deep - up from 5.7 tries on 36 percent shooting in the regular season. With Love looking for the shot rather than the pass, defenses are scrambling more than ever to cover Cleveland's All-Star trio.

Trusting ball movement

Like most coaches, Lue vowed to get the Cavaliers playing with more pace. But that hasn't necessarily translated - Cleveland's pace score remains virtually unchanged from when Blatt commanded the team.

The offense, however, has taken off during the playoffs under Lue's watch. Despite not playing any faster, Cleveland's posting an offensive rating of 117 in the postseason versus the 105.6 mark it held under Blatt. What changed, if not the pace?

Thanks to two subtle changes, Lue has the Cavaliers effectively playing with more pace in their attack without actually playing faster.

For starters, they're spacing the floor more effectively by only giving minutes to one non-shooter (Tristan Thompson). Out went Timofey Mozgov and in came Channing Frye, who's been lights-out from deep. With the likes of Love and Frye stretching defenses out to the 3-point line, the lanes have opened up for James and Irving to attack the rim.

The Cavaliers are also trusting the pass. They're creating 62.4 points per game off assists in the playoffs, up from 54 under Blatt's regime. They're finding the open man and he's been unafraid to shoot.

The willingness to pass, combined with a surplus of shooting, has made sequences like the following the norm for the Cavaliers in the playoffs.