James missed the last eight games and the Cavaliers went 1-7 without him.
Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James will return to the lineup Tuesday against the Phoenix Suns after missing eight games with left knee and lower back strains.
James last played on Dec. 28, when the Cavaliers were blown out by the Detroit Pistons, 103-80. The four-time MVP put forth his worst performance of the season in the loss, shooting just 5-of-19 and turning the ball over seven times.
Cleveland was a disaster in the eight games without James in the lineup, going 1-7 and falling to 19-19 on the season. This despite at least one of Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving being available in all eight games and both playing in six of them. This brutal stretch included an embarrassing loss to the Philadelphia 76ers and was capped off with a blowout defeat at the hand of the Sacramento Kings.
The Cavaliers have been dreadful on both sides of the ball without James, with the offense and defense operating at close to league-worst levels. The defensive struggles shouldn't have come as much of a surprise given how poor Cleveland has been on that end over the course of the entire season even with James, but the dreadful offense is shocking considering the presence of Love and Irving.
While James was out, the Cavaliers attempted to upgrade the roster by acquiring J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert and Timofey Mozgov. It remains to be seen whether those moves will help solve the myriad problems in Cleveland, and final conclusions can't be made until James gets back into his groove and the team has time to mesh.
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