Longabardi joins the Cavaliers after head coach David Blatt was surprisingly fired last week and Lue elevated to replace him.
Under NBA rules, the team with the best record after January 31 is selected to coach the All-Star teams – a status Cleveland clinched with a 115-93 victory.
On being named an all-star coach, Lue said it was a nod to his former colleague.
That miserable sequence for Phoenix allowed Cleveland to build a 17-point advantage which stretched to a 28-point which the Suns never looked like catching. The last time Detroit faced Cleveland was in November, and Drummond could not be stopped; the center was able to drop 25 points off of 10 for 15 shooting, as well as grab a game-high 18 boards. James has dropped at least 21 points and 9 assists in four consecutive games, his most recent being off of 7 for 8 shooting.
P.J. Tucker had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Suns, while Markieff Morris scored 13 points off the bench. Stan Van Gundy may opt to have Kentavious Caldwell-Pope guard Irving from the get-go, but if he decides to give Jackson the first crack I can’t imagine he’ll stick with him for too long if Irving is having his way. I got a fan base here and a fan base all over the world that loves what I do and they respect what I do and I can’t worry about a select group of people that want to use their negative energy to take away my positive energy. Cleveland had an excellent night on the offensive end, shooting over 55% from the floor and just under 40% from three point range. He had nothing better to do since he didn’t play the fourth quarter of the blowout.