Puskas: A month has made a big difference for the Cavs

A year ago, LeBron James was still The Best Basketball Player in the World.

Then, in July, he announced his plans to return to Cleveland after four years in Miami and everything changed.

(As I type this, it’s 7 degrees at the corner of Vindicator Square and Front Street. If this keeps up, I might have to take my middling talents to South Beach, or at least far enough south for double digits.)

Almost before James stepped on the court wearing the old wine and gold, we started hearing about how he was suddenly ordinary. After all, we were reminded, he was going to turn 30 on Dec. 30.

As if, right after hitting the big 3-0, LeBron suddenly was going to morph into Darko Milicic.

It was almost as if Miami and the rest of the NBA decided to minimize LeBron leaving the Heat by suggesting the Cavaliers were getting back a far lesser player than the one who left Cleveland in 2010.

Hey, I get it. Cavaliers fans — and even Dan Gilbert, the team’s owner — engaged in similar tactics when James left for Miami.

But when the new-look Cavaliers struggled out of the gate and it looked like James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love were mismatched as Cleveland’s Big Three, the whispers grew into shouts.

LeBron can’t elevate anymore. He can’t finish at the rim.

Love just got here, but now he wants to leave.

Irving refuses to run first-year coach David Blatt’s offense.

Blatt can’t coach and even if he could, LeBron is undermining him.

The Cavaliers were 19-20 in mid-January. They’d lost six games in a row and nine of 10. James was out with a sore knee and some people were ready to write off the team.

They forgot a couple of things.

The NBA isn’t about January and LeBron, while he’s in his 12th season in the league, is still the best player in the NBA.

James returned from a couple of weeks of rest with a fury and the Cavaliers have gone 14-2 since they bottomed out at 19-20.

Irving scored 55 points in a game James missed during the hot streak and is averaging 21.7 points. Suddenly the idea that he and Blatt aren’t on the same page has disappeared. So has the notion that James is trying to get his coach fired.

Love isn’t getting the 26.1 points, 12.5 points and 4.4 assists he did with Minnesota, but so what? What did the Timberwolves win a year ago with Love doing everything? He doesn’t have to hit those numbers for the Cavs to win.

This isn’t fantasy basketball. Someone’s numbers were going to come in lower than they had before because there are only so many touches each game.

The goal is not to have three guys averaging 30 points. It’s to win an NBA championship.

An improved defensive effort and moves to acquire important role players Timofey Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert have turned the season around and shown the Cavs can contend for a title.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.