After kicking coach Mike Brown out of a team meeting Tuesday morning, Cavs forward LeBron James had 26 points, seven rebounds and six assists as the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers 105-94 to clinch a playoff berth.
Cleveland had lost three of four after an eight-game winning streak, but pulled within 2 games of Detroit in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.
The Cavaliers came out focused after the meeting that James led on Tuesday.
"This is my team, that's my responsibility to make sure everyone's on course," James said. "There can be a lot of distractions on a five-game road trip."
Brown didn't mind his star player becoming more vocal.
"We can help them and put them in spots, coach them, continue to show them where they're wrong, where they're right and so forth," Brown said, "but really, when it gets down to it, they're the ones on the floor playing. If you have a team that decides to take ownership of what they're doing, then the sky's the limit."