Hey, Cavalier fans! It's AC, here - what's happening?

That was a tough loss on Sunday afternoon in D.C. Right now, the Cavs aren't functioning like they were earlier this season. That's obvious. 

The big thing that I see now that's different from the first 20 games of the season is that the Cavs were coming out with the same energy level from the first quarter to the fourth quarter. And now, we just come out with that energy level ONLY in the fourth quarter. And I don't know if you can sustain that energy level for all 82 games, but to only do it in one quarter - as opposed to what you've been doing - it's not going to get you to that final goal.

Sure, we are a different team without Z. And it's not as if Z was needed to score a lot of points. But when you're a finely-oiled machine and you take the carburetor out - it changes the way the engine flows. Having him in there, it seems like the team is relaxed. They're a little on edge when Z's not in the linuep and all the pieces aren't together.

LeBron does more when Z's not in the lineup. He knows he has to do more, so he gets into that mode a little more.

The key to remember now, however, is you have to remain true to yourself - and that means moving the basketball and moving bodies. That's how they established this record and that's how they're going to keep this record intact. That's the new formula that they've had, and it has to continue.

On Sunday afternoon, one man had 10 assists and three guys had one assist. That was it.

To me, that's saying that teams are taking our first option from us, and instead of moving the ball immediately, we're trying to figure out what's going on. And we're getting into our offense late. When you get into your offense early, you can get to your second, third, fourth options before the shot-clock begins to work against you. It's just being a little out of sync, because we don't have the full unit together.

It's about adjusting. And that's where practice time becomes so incredibly valuable. Right now, the Cavaliers need that practice floor to work on the new cadence that's out there now. You're going to need guys who haven't played important minutes to pick up those important minutes - and play them well; not just be out there.

Right now, again, it's about adjusting. And the quicker we make that adjustment, and get on with our business - the stronger we'll be when Z gets back.

But again, it's an 82-game schedule, and they're probably going through a little bit of a "holiday funk" right now - with the food and friends and parents. All that has an effect on you. It's a tough time to play, but you have to put that behind you and now you need to get focused back on your job. The relatives are out of town now, the food is going back to normal.  It's time to get back to business and focus on putting people to sleep again.

To do that, the energy level has to be high right from the first quarter again. They have to come out of the locker room with it and keep it up for four quarters. We can't revert to two or three years ago, where we wait for the end of the game and give it to LeBron to get the win. That's not going to work anymore. Not for what we're trying to do - win a Championship.

The bench has to develop. J.J. Hickson has to elevate his game. Andy's energy off the bench is something that you're going to have to replace. The bench has to step up.

J.J.'s coming along. He's making fewer mistakes, but around the basket, he still doesn't understand that these are grown men that he's playing against. The more he keeps getting his shot blocked, the more he'll start making adjustments. He's got to learn to use what he has: explosive leaping ability, strength, size. He could get stronger in his upper body, but he's got great legs.

He needs to learn to take that one dribble and - BANG! - throw down. He wants that spin move everytime. He gets his back to the basket and he wants to spin off his right shoulder every time.

He'll learn all that from experience and he's a young man who needs to WATCH FILM! That's what I did when I came into this league as a scorer. I wasn't worried about anybody, but I would be in such a rush, that I would pass quality shots up. But I watched film, watched tape. Then, you start running the plays and you know exactly what to look for. Once you program things in your mind, all you have to do is see the play, and you'll know exactly what to do.

And that's how J.J. Hickson is going to get better. Once this kid understands his game and meshes it with the pro game - he'll be an All-Star.

He'll get his chance this month, beginning with Charlotte on Wednesday night.

That game Wednesday night against Charlotte is HUGE. You need that momentum for Friday night's game against Boston. If you lose to Charlotte at home, and they break our home streak, the Cavs go into the Boston game in a deflated mood. We want that Boston game to be for the Eastern Conference lead. We both have six losses.

As a team, with the West Coast trip coming up - if we can beat Boston with Z out of the lineup - we can take things to the next level for the rest of the month.

When you lose a guy like Z, a team  has to find something that I call "the Yellow Brick Road." You need to find the road to success without one of your main guys. What do we have to do to win ballgames without him? You have to answer that question in your mind. And if they can find that answer - win Wednesday and beat Boston on Friday night - then they will know how to find the Yellow Brick Road.

And when Z does come back, the Cavaliers will just be that much stronger.

Hey, everyone! It's AC - what's happening?

The Cavaliers are looking to make a clean sweep on the road out here. Friday's win in Denver was a big one, and it was good to see us knock off a team that's given us problems for so many years.

A lot of people have said that the Cavaliers needed to beat a "quality opponent" like Denver. I have mixed emotions about the term "quality opponent." Some of the teams that we've beat, they were playing at the time we played them. Those might have gone into a tailspin after we played them, but they were doing well at the time.

Nonetheless, it was good for the Cavs' psyche to beat a division leader, and the second-best team in the Conference in their own arena. So the win does have some meaning to it. It was a big game and the way we beat them and I thought that was a very significant win for us.

The first quarter might have been the best quarter the Cavaliers have played all year - in terms of executing on both ends of the floor. They were superb.

Another thing I liked on Friday - and throughout the season, really - is that they no longer let the referees get into their head. It's a huge part of their maturation process. They're into the task at hand, which is winning the ballgame. And a lot of that has to do with the type of people that we have, emotionally.

The people that have been here with Coach Brown, they don't get too high or too low. And the people that we've brought in, they fit right into that philosophy. We don't have guys that are hyper-emotional, and that makes a huge difference.

Getting Z back is huge because, first of all, he spreads the floor. He essentially takes the opponent's big man out of the equation and opens up the lanes for everyone else. And when he's drawing that big man out of there, there's a lot of action around the basket. 

Then, defensively, he and Ben have become like one. They're playing very well together. You can just see: when he's out there, things look less congested - everything's in order. When he's not, it almost seems like there's too many people on the court. And mentally, the way he started out, it just relaxed the team. You could almost sense that they were thinking: "Well, we're back to normal now. Let's go."

Big Z plays differently on the defensive end now that he's teamed up with Big Ben. I think Z is willing to challenge more shots now. He's willing to take more chances on defense because he knows he's got Ben out there backing him up. Ben covers so much territory east to west that it doesn't look like there's any room to move against our defense.

They were building a wall against Carmelo on Friday and he and J.R. Smith had nowhere to go. It's amazing to watch how they're all coming together now after they've all had a Training Camp together.

Delonte also looks like he's got his touch back. He's a player who takes what the defense gives him. And the defense gave him the open shot in Denver. In Minnesota, the defense was trying to close out on him.  But if you notice, even though he took some outside shots, he still attacked the basket, and that's his game - he goes inside to set up his outside game. And that's the perfect two-guard mentality.

The Cavaliers are running on all cylinders and need to just keep it rolling. They might not say it now, but they're keeping a close eye on the Celtics. They're not going to tell you that. They're going to take it one game at a time - that's the mentality when you're playing an 82-game schedule - but they subconsciously have their eye on Boston.

It's OK to watch Boston, because it gives them a goal - something to shoot for. And they won't get complacent. Boston is definitely hitting their stride, but we have our eye on them. And that's a healthy thing.