The Cavaliers' Big 3 are finally living up to their hype, dominating playoffs

It took a while, but Kevin Love, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving are rolling and the Eastern Conference is paying the price

By Matt Moore

May 20, 2016 at 11:42 pm ET • 4 min read

Sometimes the dish comes out tasty, no matter how messy the cooking was.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are not disproving a narrative with the Fury Road-type rampage they've scorched through the Eastern Conference wasteland. None of this erases the very real drama that shadowed the team the past two years. You don't fire your coach midseason with the best record in the East if everything's hunky dory. All those anonymous sources may rile up feelings of distrust, but the stories did not come from thin air.

The Cavaliers had problems. Their biggest star, the home-state icon, was fed up just about every night with his teammates' effort and professionalism. and Kevin Love had the chemistry of two junior high jazz musicians thrust into a set at the Met. Tristan Thompson was just a guy. He had a good season, but could you trust him to be there when it mattered? The whole team would have nights where it looked dominant, and nights where it lost to inferior teams, looking vulnerable and inept.

The Cavaliers rarely, if ever, grazed their ceiling.

In the playoffs, however, they have punched a hole in the ceiling. Leading the charge is that superstar three-man combo that for so long looked destined for dissolution, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. It wasn't three months ago that Love was reportedly being shopped at the trade deadline. Kyrie Irving was reportedly suffering from a "disconnect" with James, and James was sub-tweeting the entire team day after day. Now, they're a three-headed monster that has ripped up everything.

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The Cavs' Big 3 are responsible for over 50 percent of the points for the Cavaliers and nearly as many assists. They are carrying the load. What's more, they're playing better together.

The three were great together in the regular season. Despite all the drama, the numbers were always there. The Cavs were plus-8 per 48 minutes and plus-7 per 100 possessions. In the playoffs, they're plus-18 per 48 minutes and plus-16 per 100 possessions. They are flat-out destroying teams, with a 59.7 TrueShooting percentage (factoring 3-pointers and free throws) while winning 10 straight playoff games. They're halfway to a sweep in the conference finals, with no sign of slowing down.

Their chemistry is the biggest difference. The Cavs, as a whole, are firing on all cylinders and playing together as a unit like we haven't seen. But key elements of the Big 3 are clicking, most especially Irving and Love, who never seemed to mesh. In 10 playoff games, Irving has assisted Love on 14 of his buckets. That's 25 percent of his total assists on Love's made field goals in the regular season.

Irving is trusting Love more, and it has made Love the most confident player he has been since he was in Minnesota.

That step-back confidence isn't him rushing it or forcing it, it's exploiting the defense being out of position trying to blitz Irving. Look at how quick Irving is here.

Both plays aren't just simple, nice shots. It's Irving trusting Love and getting him the ball right where Love wants it.

You've seen James be more effusive with his celebrations with Love. There's trust there. All of this was absent last year and at times, this season.

CBS Sports' Ken Berger chronicled in detail this week how the team has rallied around, and grown from the influence of, coach Tyronn Lue. But that chemistry would still not result in domination if it weren't for a dominant LeBron James, as Bill Reiter has illustrated. But to beat the Warriors (or Thunder) and win the title, Cleveland is going to need this fully armed and operational Death Star, powered by this three-man star combo that was the guiding blueprint of Cleveland's hastily assembled contention plan. They are making good on the promise they showed on paper two summers ago.

The Finals, of course, will be the real test. The Cavs have destroyed an Eastern Conference playoff slate so completely, many are wondering if it's more to do with how weak the East is. This ignores two things. One, the fact that Cleveland has played lights out. Go back and watch these games and tell me how the Spurs would have hung with the perimeter onslaught the Cavs have shown vs. the Hawks, or how a healthy Clippers team would have done with the Cavs' ability to attack the rim they've unleashed vs. Toronto. Two, the East was truly better this year than the West, 1-15. Atlanta was just a bad schematic matchup for the Cavs' perimeter assault, and Toronto, regrettably, has not played its best basketball. Yet the No. 2 seed in the West, the Spurs, is home right now.

That's not to say that Toronto is better than San Antonio was. The Raptors most assuredly are not. But the Cavs can only play who's in front of them, and the Cavs have destroyed everything in their path.

Will Love be able to stay on the floor vs. the Warriors in pick-and-roll situations? The Big 3 have given up a 105 defensive rating in the playoffs, a high mark that is masked by their unholy offensive attack (121 per 100 possessions, which is like a thermonuclear attack in basketball analytics terms). Can they maintain offensive pace and tighten the defense up when the competition increases? Can they really dominate on the floor like they have in the East?

There are still questions. But after two years that bred skepticism over whether or not this core, this Big 3, this configuration of star power could really challenge as a title contender, the Cavaliers have their answer. The best of the Cavs' 3 Musketeers is as good as any force in the East, and could be the key to them shocking the NBA world in the Finals.

But first?

Game 3 in Toronto on Saturday.