CLEVELAND, Ohio -- In late January, Cedi Osman was in the midst of a rough four-game stretch, leading to whispers inside the Cleveland Cavaliers locker room about his lack of growth in Year Two.

Then came a breakout game in Boston. A night everything changed. Osman poured in a career-best 25 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 6-of-7 from 3-point range. Not only did he begin to silence his harshest critics -- some being his own teammates -- but he used that game as evidence, showing him the approach he needed to take each night.

“That Boston game that we played, I think everything started with that game,” Osman told cleveland.com. “That’s how I started to feel more confident and how I started believing in my shots. I think that was a turning point. I mean, earlier in the season I had two good games and then play one bad and then one good and two bad. It was all like up and down so that was the biggest problem. That was something that I was really frustrated about was that consistency. I feel much more comfortable and more relaxed.”

Since that breakout against the Celtics, Osman has found the consistency that once eluded him. He has scored double figures in 16 of the last 19 games, earned a trip to NBA All-Star Weekend to participate in the Rising Stars Challenge and cemented himself as one of Cleveland’s building blocks.

Prior to Osman’s turning point, he was averaging 11.7 points on 40.5 percent shooting and 30.3 percent from 3-point range. Since then, Osman is averaging 16.8 points on 48 percent from the field and 46.4 percent beyond the arc. On Monday night against the playoff-bound Detroit Pistons, Osman tallied 21 points to go with four rebounds and six assists. He also buried a ruthless 3-pointer in crunch time that put the Cavaliers ahead by four points.

“As I’ve started to figure out how the game goes and how I need to play, I feel much more confident,” Osman said. “I feel now, especially the last few months, that I’m really consistent with how I’m playing offensively and defensively. I feel the last two months I’ve really grown a lot.”

Unlike Osman, rookie Collin Sexton can’t pinpoint a single moment when things turned. It just took time. He needed the game to slow down. Now that it has, Sexton is rewriting Cavaliers history.

He scored a team-best 27 points on 10-of-16 from the field and 5-of-6 from 3-point range in 33 minutes Monday night. It’s the sixth straight game tallying at least 20 points -- becoming the fourth rookie in Cavaliers history. Kyrie Irving didn’t even do that en route to his Rookie of the Year award in 2011-12. LeBron James’ 20-point streak ended at four games in his first season.

Prior to Sexton reaching that mark on Monday, the last rookie in the NBA to score at least 23 points in six straight games was San Antonio legend Tim Duncan in 1998.

“It’s just keep playing and once you see enough different reads and stuff then you start making the right decisions,” Sexton said. “I feel like I’ve grown a lot. When you first come into the league you don’t know what to expect. And then if you do, you’re ready, but then it’s different when you’re playing and getting reps. It’s just like anything, you start to do something, play it enough and do it enough then you can get good at it.”

The two players, both of whom were singled out by fans, media members and teammates at various stages during this stormy season, have come a long way. Just look at the fourth quarter Monday night. In the final two minutes, Sexton made a pair of 3-pointers and had what head coach Larry Drew called the “play of the game” -- a hockey assist that led to Osman’s dagger 3-pointer at the 1:23 mark.

Osman not only hit that triple but also a pair of important free throws with 15.1 seconds. Both guys were on the court late, shocking the Pistons on a night Kevin Love, Matthew Dellavedova, Larry Nance Jr. and Tristan Thompson -- players who are typically on the floor in pressure moments -- weren’t available.

“Oh yeah, it means a whole lot just because we had to step up,” Sexton told cleveland.com “I feel like Kevin is one of the best players when he’s healthy and when we have him down those are some big shoes to fill. It’s tough. I feel like guys were ready tonight. Nik (Stauskas) stepped up for us. David (Nwaba). It’s big.”

Sexton’s right. Stauskas provided an unexpected lift, scoring 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Nwaba played a game-high 40 minutes and brought his usual energy and toughness. The duo received warranted praise from Drew following the win. But they aren’t as important to Cleveland’s future success as Osman and Sexton. That’s why seeing the pair stand on their own, without Love and the others, was a watershed moment.

The last time the Cavs played Detroit without Love, it turned into a 36-point laugher. This time, Sexton and Osman were closing out a rising team, one with the best mark in the NBA since Feb. 4, while perhaps previewing what’s to come.

“Success is not always necessarily measured on wins and losses,” Drew said. “Have to look at your team and have to look at situations and circumstances. You have to look at the big picture. For the organization the big picture is the growth we see in our guys. Understanding that, yeah, this was going to be a tough season because we have had a big turnaround. Understanding it’s not always going to be perfect and it’s not always going to be a positive result. But what I’m looking for is growth and I’m really seeing it from both guys.”

Sexton started his rookie year as an overwhelmed teenager. Part of it was his style. As Channing Frye said Monday, Sexton can be a “stubborn little sucker.” The other part was what he represented.

The crown jewel of the Irving trade, Sexton was the portrait of a franchise shift -- away from championships and toward ping-pong balls -- that not all players were willing to accept early in the season. He was also viewed as the piece the Cavs wouldn’t part with in a win-now deal to improve their title chances the previous year.

Frankly, it was nearly an impossible situation, one made more difficult by a coaching change, trades and a rash of injuries, including the major one to Love. But Sexton never cracked.

Instead, he went to work, improving his shot with countless hours of work before, during and after practice. His dad helped too, giving him pointers on what to fix. It’s that attitude and work ethic that have the front office so bullish on Sexton’s potential. It’s what allowed Sexton to plow through the early finger-pointing and eye-rolling. It’s what has kept him from folding when teammates have verbally admonished him. And it’s what allowed him to demand the ball in the biggest moments Monday night, delivering a needed win following an appalling road trip.

“Those are the moments people remember at the end of the game,” Sexton said. “You make a big shot. ‘Yeah, he made a big shot.’ I feel like those are the moments I work for and make sure I’m always ready for.”

“As a coach you want those players to want those moments,” Drew said. “Cherish those moments, appreciate those moments. You want players to live for those moments. Collin has shown he’s not going to shy away from it. I don’t care how big the moment is. This guy, he embraces it. You don’t see a lot of rookies do that. You don’t see some veteran players do it. That’s just who he is. I have all the faith in the world as far as putting the ball in his hands in a crunch time situation.”

Osman said he never doubted Sexton. He saw a kid who was “never afraid of taking a challenge.” But Osman is in the minority when it comes to that. Sexton has had plenty of detractors, including ones who proclaimed he couldn’t shoot coming out of Alabama and others who said he couldn’t play two weeks into his rookie year.

There were those same critics with Osman. On Monday night, two of the most important pieces of this rebuild showed how far they’ve come and why this season will be a success despite the final record. After all, this year was in large part about player development and identifying a new core.

“Very gratifying. Hoping it would get to this point with both of those guys in a position to where they are closing out games,” Drew said. “I’ve had them earlier in the season where they have been on the bench, watching and learning. Now really being a part of it, as far as closing off and finishing at the end, it was very, very gratifying because both of those guys have come a long, long way.

"Now that we have gone to the rebuild mode we have to ask ourselves, ‘Are those guys the same players they were at the start of the season?’ And by no stretch of the imagination are they.”