During the early part of the season, Kyrie Irving was maligned for his low assist totals amidst the Cleveland Cavaliers' struggles on offense.

The Cavaliers have changed their system over the past month since their loss at Utah Jazz in which Irving had no assists.

"He was playing off the ball. This is where the Cavs have made incredible strides over the last month. Since that Utah game, LeBron (James) has taken over basically as the point guard and Kyrie has allowed him to do it.

"(Against the Knicks) you saw LeBron running the show and Kyrie being the No. 2. The difference was LeBron was setting people up. The team had 19 assists. LeBron had 12 of them, six of those assists went to Kyrie. He puts up 37 points on a night where LeBron isn't going great offensive and his assists didn't matter as much because the team was operating differently.

"Because he's giving less energy on the offensive end, Kyrie is expending that energy on the defensive end playing some of the best defense of his career."

David Blatt has also left Irving on the floor at the beginning of the second and fourth quarters during James' time on the bench.