CLEVELAND, Ohio -- When Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue decided to move Kevin Love to center, removing Tristan Thompson from the starting lineup, it raised a few eyebrows.

Beyond Love's obvious apprehension, the swap seemed to be a shift away from the defense-first approach Lue spoke about all off-season. But the Cavaliers' 10-game winning streak helps highlight Lue's thinking. The win against the Atlanta Hawks Thursday night drove that home even more.

Love finished with a team-high 25 points on 7-of-16 from the field and 4-of-9 from 3-point range to go with 16 rebounds and eight more free throws.

But it wasn't solely his stat sheet that validated the Love-at-center experiment. It was more how the Cavs were able to attack Atlanta.

When the Hawks tried to use bouncy rookie John Collins against Love, he floated out to the 3-point line, pulling size away from the hoop and allowing his teammates to benefit. If there were switches and Atlanta packed the paint to take away drives, then Love buried perimeter shots.

At times, the Hawks downsized, partially out of necessity with Mike Muscala and Dewayne Dedmon sidelined with injury. When that happened, Love exploited the mismatch inside -- scoring buckets around the rim or terrorizing the Hawks on the offensive glass, pulling down a game-high six offensive boards.

It's the same formula the Cavs used to overwhelm Miami on Tuesday -- a night Love scored 38 points and helped limit Heat center Hassan Whiteside.

"He's been playing good," Lue said of Love. "He has some tough matchups over the last six games. Two with Dwight Howard, (Joel) Embiid, Whiteside, (Andre) Drummond and he's been great. He's shooting the ball better. I think he's taken a liking to the 5 because he knows he's going to get open shots and if teams put smaller guys on him, we're going to be able to post him. He's been great."

Initially Lue put Love at center to add more spacing and help the Cavs remain an explosive offense despite summer changes. The team needed it, especially with Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade sharing the same backcourt. After just three games, Lue reversed course, moved Wade to the bench and put Thompson back with the starters to limit Love's minutes against traditional bigs who wore him down in the paint. That led to different issues.

Thompson's injury changed it again, with Love back to center and Jae Crowder in with the starters. Only this time, there's no Wade, giving the Cavs a starting group with five shooters that has spread out helpless defenses during this winning streak.

Over the last 10 games, the Cavs are shooting -- and making -- more 3's than the first month, rising up the ranks each game. They boast the third-most efficient offense. And Love is at the center of it all -- literally.

"It's funny to say I'm playing out of position, but I'm so used to being out there with Tristan and fighting for rebounds with him and knowing the rotations at the 4 spot, playing inside out from the 4 spot," Love said recently. "It's definitely been a change playing the 5 and having to match up and go against guys and maybe giving up two, three, four inches and 20, 30 pounds. As far as guys helping me out on that end, it's not always going to be easy, but we're able to get the job done."

During the winning streak, Love's averaging 20.6 points on 49.6 percent from the field and 36.5 percent from beyond the arc to go with 10.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 30.0 minutes.

On Thursday, when LeBron James needed someone else to carry the load on offense after the Hawks made some defensive adjustments to load up on one side, and the Cavs needed James to slow down speedy Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder, Love stepped up.

In the third quarter, he scored 12 points on 4-of-6 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range, shredding the Hawks' defensive strategy.

"Kev's been huge for us and we want that to continue," James said. "But when he's not feeling great, like in the Philly game, we've got other guys that can pick it up and that's what we need to have.

"Kev is our All-Star power forward and we expect good things out of him. But if he has a night off, if I have a night off, whatever the case may be, we've got guys who can pick it up, so that's what it's about. It's a collective team effort."

Thompson is set to return in the next week or so. But Love's growing comfort playing center may lead to Lue sticking with his original plan.