CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Late Wednesday night, Collin Sexton was able to crack a smile and share a few laughs with Tristan Thompson -- the only other player remaining in the locker room following a 95-86 loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Cavaliers' air has been heavy lately, with Sexton taking plenty of heat from teammates while trying to fight through the growing pains rookies endure.

Even though the team's losing streak moved to four games, there wasn't a sense of discouragement. The poor body language was gone. The quiet whispers were silenced. The blame wasn't being placed on one player more than any other.

On this night, the Cavs -- and Sexton in particular -- had plenty of reasons to be proud after fighting back from a 16-point deficit and nearly stealing the game from the Thunder despite missing four players from the usual rotation.

Sexton, the embattled teenager, wasn't a liability. Rather he was one of the team's best, showing plenty of potential in a tough matchup against Dennis Schroder.

"He's a dog," Thompson told cleveland.com following the game. "We always knew he could play."

But some recent performances had others doubting that.

While the losses were piling up and Sexton was looking completely overwhelmed, the common refrain around the locker room was that the youngster didn't yet know how to play. He wasn't a capable passer. He didn't understand how to defend. He waved off advice.

Everyone felt he was trying to do the right things, but the NBA is relentless and his mind was racing too fast. Sexton's struggles, and how his teammates responded to them, led to head coach Larry Drew addressing that with players.

"I actually pulled some guys to the side when we were in Orlando," Drew said. "That was my exact point -- having to be patient with a 19-year-old kid."

Drew said he didn't read the articles that pointed to growing disharmony in the locker room. But members of the organization filled him in.

"Just didn't think that was fair at all (for our guys) to go at a 19-year-old kid like that," Drew said. "As I told a couple of the guys, 'hey, you were 19 at one point. To step up to this level, I'm sure you would've been in a situation where you were making mistakes too.' In order for Collin to learn, he's going to have to make mistakes.

"I know for me, given what the situation is with him, I want him to be aggressive. I want him to be in attack mode at all times. I don't want him to be passive. He turns the ball over, I don't want him thinking about what his teammates think. And I've expressed that to the team. We cannot get down on this kid just because he makes mistakes. It's tough enough as it is, coming in that young and to play on this level. We have to embrace him when he does make a mistake just like we embrace everybody else. It's not fair for body language to change (or) when he does make a mistake ... he looks over at me."

Sexton has a long way to go. But Wednesday night was an important step. Not just for Sexton's own confidence, either.

He scored 15 points to lead the team. He was receiving late-game minutes, an important part of the lineup when the Cavs were surging back. He filled in admirably for veteran George Hill, who missed the game with a sore shoulder. He didn't back down against feisty Schroder. He played within himself and rarely lost control.

"He can score the ball," Jordan Clarkson said of Sexton. "Might have to look at him playing the 2, know what I mean? Yeah, he was in there, played with a good pace today and shot some shots. Still learning. He looked really good tonight. Made shots, made plays."

Those kinds of performances are the best way to earn cred with his teammates, to prove he's worthy of being out there late in games.

"I'd rather (he be) a bulldog that has some balls and heart like him and teach him to fight than take a chihuahua and try to turn him into a man," Thompson told cleveland.com. "It's our job in the NBA to teach them how to play, teach them how to wrestle."

In this case, Sexton isn't the puny chihuahua. He's the hard-nosed bulldog with the intangibles Thompson loves to see in a teammate. He just needs time to develop.

Thompson said he wasn't one of the players Drew talked to in Orlando. JR Smith wouldn't confirm one way or the other, but dropped a hint that he was.

"It gets frustrating sometimes in the moment, but you have to take a quick flashback and understand he's still 19 years old," Smith told cleveland.com. "He's a young player and he's going to go through the same situations I was in. For me ... I have to be that guy I didn't have who is trying to push me to be better and make sure I'm on the right path. He's definitely on his way there. It's obviously going to take time."

Smith feels he can relate to Sexton. That's why Smith often pulls Sexton to the side during stoppages. That's why he tries to talk to him on the bench throughout the game.

Like Sexton, Smith entered the NBA as a teenager. He wasn't the eighth-overall pick, of course, but was a first rounder who arrived in New Orleans with great expectations.

Smith was given a shot to play meaningful minutes early, getting thrown into the fire while being viewed as an important part of the team's future. He dealt with his own early career struggles and had to learn on the fly.

Sound familiar?

"He's not one of those guys who responds to the loud talking and yelling and stuff like that," Smith said. "You really have to sit there and talk to him.

"Look, we're all competitive and in the heat of the moment anything can happen to any one of us, but he's one of those guys who you really have to take him by the hand and show him what's going on, what's this and what's that. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm like that as well. Just getting to know him and understand what he's about, he's truly one of the most competitive people I've met."

Thompson, one of the team leaders, has recognized some the same. He said, based on his own interactions, Sexton handles teaching -- and even criticism -- well, as long as it's communicated the right way.

"I think for him it's slow him down and walk him through it," Thompson said. "Also it's on our coaches and us to show film so he can see it. I think he's more of a visual guy. So instead of saying do this, this, this and this, it's like so much going on in his brain right now so I think you slow it down and next day after practice 'let's show you the film and show you where it's there or it's here.' I think that's how we have to approach it."

Each day is a chance to learn, both for Sexton and his teammates. Smith noticed more about Sexton in the Thunder game than he had in the previous 10.

He recognized how much Sexton likes to play in space. He saw how much of a challenge it was for Sexton to finish over intimidating Steven Adams so Smith told Sexton he would be better off either dribbling back out and resetting or passing off to his teammates. Smith also remarked about the kid's fearlessness, holding his own in a tough matchup.

Each game is a chance for that connection to grow. That's why that light moment in the locker room between Sexton and Thompson late Wednesday was meaningful.

It's a far cry from two nights earlier. In Orlando, after not playing the final seven-plus minutes, with Drew believing Hill gave the team a better chance to win, Sexton got dressed quickly, threw his hood on and walked back to the same seat on the bench where he was stationed for a majority of that crushing loss.

That's when he picked up the phone and started voicing his frustration. Trying to cope with another bad night, Sexton needed someone to talk to. His teammates were nowhere to be found.

At times this season Sexton has probably felt on his own, that guys were piling on and he was the main target.

The raised palms. The glares to the bench. Shaking heads. Criticism. His teammates condemning him for rookie mistakes.

Drew tried to put a stop to all of it a few days ago.

Sexton did his part Wednesday night.