CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue took over for David Blatt, he had a clear snapshot of what he wanted the Cavaliers to look like.

Saturday's 117-103 bashing of the San Antonio Spurs showed Lue's handiwork.

"I think our team responded well, playing fast, getting easy shots, Kyrie (Irving) and LeBron (James) attacking early, and then Kevin (Love) in the low post and making jump shots. I thought tonight was a picture-perfect way of how we want to play. The guys came out and executed it."

The up-tempo Cavaliers ran past, and in one case, right through the league's No. 1 defense, which was helpless throughout the night.

Cavaliers' LeBron James trucks Spurs' Patty Mills for and-one pic.twitter.com/Yvx2nx335J — Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) January 31, 2016

As the Cavaliers flaunted their muscles, the proud Spurs were searching for answers, even switching to a zone defense, hoping to slow the pace.

But the new-look offense, averaging 115 points during the current four-game winning streak, found success throughout, finishing with the second-highest point total against the Spurs this season while shooting 54.9 percent from the field.

Cleveland has scored at least 114 points in four consecutive contests, the first time since December 15-19, 1992.

Entering the night 0-5 against San Antonio, Golden State and Chicago -- a team James singled out when talking about their stiffest competition -- the Cavs needed something to boost their confidence.

They grabbed a signature win, one that led to Lue being showered with applause en route to the his postgame press conference.

"It was a good win for us, just for us going forward," Lue admitted, shelving the one-of-82 chatter. "Knowing that we have a chance to beat a great team like the San Antonio Spurs just gives us confidence going forward. We can always look back at this game and say, 'Listen, we beat the Spurs.' Now we've got to continue to keep getting better and keep moving on."

Here are five observations:

Taking turns - Hours before tipoff, with Tim Duncan missing another game because of knee soreness, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich was uneasy about his defense.

"He's our base from which everything else emanates and everybody else knows how to operate based on where he is and what he does," Popovich said. "That's my biggest concern in the game is him not being there for everybody to move around because he's the center of what goes on defensively."

Those worries were confirmed early.

Recognizing Duncan's absence, the Cavaliers attacked inside, using Love as the initial offensive weapon. He scored 14 points, topping his total from the first game against San Antonio, on 5-of-7 from the field in the first 10 minutes

"It was by design," Lue said of Love's fast start. "Kevin had it going early, so we wanted to keep featuring Kevin."

It's the second straight game that Love has been the first quarter offensive focal point, scoring 10 in the first during Friday's win against the Detroit Pistons. This time, he helped the Cavaliers take an early 37-30 lead.

"Ever since I was young I was one of the big guys," Love said. "At my position I'm not the tallest guy in the world but I've always played inside/out. When I get to the free-throw line or get those post touches it helps me have continuity and feel a little bit of a flow and involved in the offense. That definitely helps me and makes the hoop bigger in a lot of ways just getting those easy touches."

Love tailed off following his blistering first quarter, finishing with 21 points on 8-of-13 from the field, including 3-of-6 from three point range to go with 11 rebounds. But did plenty of work early, looking more comfortable than ever.

"Yeah, yeah, he's played some good ball over the last year and a half that we've had him," James said of Love's recent stretch with three straight 20-plus scoring nights. "I think right now he's finally getting comfortable in his role. I think coach Lue has done a great job clearing the air with what he expects out of all of us, including Kev, and he's a big focal point of our team. When he's playing locked in like this, it's great for us."

The second quarter was a balanced effort, with eight players scoring a least one basket.

Then it was James' turn to carry the offense. Following a quiet scoring first half, James erupted for 16 points on 6-of-9 from the field as he played all 12 minutes of the third quarter and helped the Cavs surge ahead, 92-76.

With James resting to begin the fourth quarter, it was Irving's turn to take over.

Shades of his fourth quarter early this year against Washington and his second half last season against San Antonio, Irving sliced through the defense with his dribbling wizardry before finishing patented circus shots at the rim.

Irving scored 10 points in the quarter, including the first six, helping Cleveland keep its grip.

That's the formula for the Cavs to reach their immense potential. One night after scoring 77 points, Cleveland's Big Three combined to score 71.

"Kevin carried us in the first half and LeBron and Kyrie carried us in the second half," Lue said. "The Big 3 came through for us. It was great."

LeBron the facilitator - Lue has delivered specific messages to each one of his players, letting them know what he wants.

He has told Irving to attack, feeling the talented point guard wasn't playing with the aggressiveness that helped him become one of the game's best at the position.

For James, Lue's message is a bit different.

"I want the ball in LeBron's hands to facilitate and create for other guys because he's 6-foot-8 and he's a great passer," Lue said. "I think with LeBron's passing ability we're able to do a lot of things."

James has responded.

He had five of his team-high seven assists in the first quarter, with three leading to Love baskets.

"I still don't know how to answer it," Love said when asked again how to define his role. "We're all just out there playing and making good reads and being good basketball players. It starts with Bron. As far as basketball IQ goes I don't think there's anybody better, nobody has a better basketball IQ than him. Kryie is out there playing. He seems to be finding his way after coming off that injury. We have guys who play off them. I can't tell you enough how fun they make the game and when we play like that it just opens up everything for us."

Prior to Lue taking over as head coach, James was averaging 6.2 assists, his lowest mark since the 2006-07 season.

In the five games since Lue has asked James to facilitate, hoping to create more ball movement, James is averaging 8.4 assists.

"We're a team that always wants to get great shots," James said. "We don't take bad shots as a team, I think sometimes when we result into the one on one game because we have guys that can iso. But, you know, coach gets on us in film sessions about timing and scoring time, want fast shots. We want to score, get good offense, if we don't have something early in our transition game. He put the stat on the board a couple games ago, you know, five-plus passes we shoot 58 percent from the three-point line and it goes down with less passes. One pass is not very good, so we've always been conscious about it but he puts it in even more of an emphasis."

Defensive adjustment - In the first meeting between the two teams, the Cavs had no answer for Tony Parker, who journeyed into the paint frequently, scoring 24 points on 11-of-18 shooting.

The game before that, he scored 31 points on 15-of-23 from the field.

Instead of sticking with the previous plan, letting Parker become a nuisance again, Lue and his defensive coordinator, Mike Longabardi, made a change.

"We went to the 'show.' We showed with David West and we showed (LaMarcus) Aldridge, just to make sure Tony couldn't get downhill," Lue said. "Last game, he took advantage of our drops and our ICEs and Tony went one-on-one with our bigs a lot the whole night. Coming into this night we said we wanted to show and try to make him veer out and play one-on-one against our guards. It was effective for us tonight."

There are numerous strategies used to defend the pick-and-roll. ICE has become one of the most common in the NBA, as James or other players are often heard shouting the term, helping the on-ball defender with the plan.

ICE means they want the on-ball defender to force the ball handler away from the screen. In a way, it's defending the ball handler sideways. That's what the Cavs did the first time against Parker and he ripped the D to shreds.

With the showing strategy, one that the Cavs used a lot before acquiring Timofey Mozgov, Parker scored 13 points on 5-of-10 from the field, taking a number of contested shots in the paint.

"I think just having our brothers' back and having Kyrie's back," Love said of defensive change. "We did change some stuff up but really it was little things that we did different than we did in San Antonio last month. We tried to force him into tough shots, throw guys at him and have other guys make plays."

The defense was far from great. San Antonio shot 40-of-81 (49.4 percent) from the field and became the third team in the last four games to reach the century mark against a unit that at one-time suffocated foes.

But that end of the floor is also a work in progress, as the team is breaking in a new defensive voice.

"Well, Coach Lue, he wants us to defend but he's not the voice of our defense," James said. "Coach Longo (Mike Longabardi), he's our defensive coordinator. He gives us the game plan. Coach Lue definitely makes his inputs throughout the course of the game, if he wants to change on a game-to-game basis or throughout the game, but our gameplan comes from our defensive coordinator and whatever he wants to do, we're able to learn on the fly."

Like Lue, Longabardi earned his reputation working with Doc Rivers.

"I have none besides seeing him on the sideline and barking out calls against me," James said of his familiarity with the new coach. "This is our third game working together. He's very detailed and we're happy to have him."

Lesson learned - Tristan Thompson, who finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, was asked Friday in Detroit what he took from the first meeting against the Spurs, a preview of sorts.

He didn't even hesitate when giving an answer.

"Value every possession," he said. "They're a team that counter your mistakes. We have to take care of the ball and we have to push the tempo and continue to play the style of basketball we want to play."

In the Jan. 14 loss, the Cavs committed 18 miscues, which turned into 19 points the other way.

On Saturday, that number dropped to 10, with no player having more than two.

"They weren't able to get out in transition and get easy baskets and easy threes," Lue said. "I thought taking care of the ball and having some kind of organization on the break. We want to push it early and attack the basket, but then we also want to be organized if we don't have that. I thought the team did a great job of doing that."

That's often a tough balance for fast-paced teams.

They go so quick and attempt to push the ball ahead before the defense can get set that it leads to mistakes. The Warriors and Thunder are near the top of the NBA in pace, but they also average 15 turnovers per game.

It appears, at least early in this changeover, that the Cavs have found the right harmony.

"It's just the conscious effort of doing what coach Lue and the coaching staff want us to do," James said. "They want some tempo and get up the floor and the best thing about it, we're not turning the ball over while we're doing it. We've been very conscious about getting up the floor if we've gotten something early, but if not then starting to run our stuff. It's been good."

Since the adjustment, the Cavs are averaging 10.4 turnovers.

Hustle and muscle - Whether it was dribble penetration or snappy ball movement, the Cavs had no trouble getting the ball inside, outscoring San Antonio in the paint, 52-46.

The Cavs also won the hustle categories, beating the Spurs to 50-50 balls or ripping rebounds away from their grasp. The Cavs finished with more second chance points (14-7), rebounds (43-32), blocks (4-2) and steals (4-2).

"On the boards, Tristan was great and he murdered us like he always seems to do," Popovich said. "A combination of the boards and poor communication on defense was our demise early."

Thompson's numbers don't tell the entire story, as he drew two of the three first quarter fouls against Aldridge battling for rebounding position.