MILWAUKEE -- It took three 3-pointers from a combined 92 feet away in the fourth quarter and overtime of a 47-minute night by LeBron James for the Cleveland Cavaliers to beat a .500 Milwaukee Bucks team Tuesday.

That Cleveland got the win with Kevin Love staying home to rehab a swollen left knee and J.R. Smith on the bench for the second half with what the Cavs have since announced is a broken right thumb certainly constitutes the "gutsy" characterization coach Tyronn Lue gave it afterward.

But as good as the Cavs can feel after extending their record to 18-0 when they hold a lead after three quarters and 20-6 overall after beating a Bucks team that ran them out of the building just three weeks ago, things aren't quite as easygoing as their record at this junction of the season would suggest.

The Smith injury, if it's serious and causes him to miss significant time, is problematic. James, Love and Kyrie Irving are all playing at such a high level, it's hard to imagine them doing even more as the season progresses. Smith was someone you could point to and say, "Well, he isn't playing anywhere near the level he's capable of (just 8.6 points on 33.7 percent shooting so far), so when he gets it together, he can help Cleveland get better as the year goes on."

It's hard to imagine LeBron James shouldering more of the load for the 20-6 Cavaliers -- his 39.4 minutes per game in December is the most he's played in this month since he was 22. Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

If there is any position where Cleveland could ill afford to lose a rotation player, it's at guard. With no true backup point guard -- Iman Shumpert has certainly done an admirable job in the meantime -- the temptation for Lue to play Irving extended minutes, as he did by having him out there for 45 minutes on the front end of a back-to-back just days after giving Irving a week off to rest his weary legs, is palpable.

It's been a tough week in particular for general manager David Griffin. He was already tasked with finding a backup point guard on the open market who can help the Cavs get to mid-April without burning out their stars; his shopping list has lengthened after Chris Andersen's season-ending ACL tear makes the team thin at backup big man. Throw in Griffin's real desire to add another wing defender by playoff time -- think of the role Dahntay Jones played last spring, only younger -- and his plate is full. All of this while his cupboard is stacked with dead-weight contracts in Andersen and Mo Williams that he would love to move to cut down on what is easily the highest payroll -- and thus highest luxury tax bill down the line -- in NBA history.

In a season that has been hampered by complacency -- that's what that three-game losing streak last month was all about -- Smith's injury also could delay what many believed would be the unofficial starting point of the season come Christmas Day. Either the Cavs would beat the Golden State Warriors and get a boost in the arm as they head toward the final two-thirds of the schedule, or the Cavs lose to the Dubs and know how much they have to work on.

Now it becomes about facing a Golden State team that's currently on a five-game winning streak, taking its last two victories by a combined 75 points over Portland and Utah, while not being at full strength if Smith can't go. It was much the same case last year when Shumpert and Irving were just getting back to full strength when Cleveland lost on Christmas Day at Oracle Arena and the Cavs could rationalize the result, in part, as them not being healthy.

Yes, Smith's absence could open the door wider for DeAndre Liggins to improve on the promise he's already shown, thus making him a potential contributor come playoff time. And yes, Shumpert is having his best season as a Cav so having him play more isn't the worst thing in the world.

Yet as much as there are ways you can convince yourself to feel good about the Cavs right now, Cleveland's success at this point is so reliant upon James that Lue has backed himself into a corner. James' 39.4 minutes per game in December is the most he's played in this month since he was 22 years old. It's too much, even if Lue says it's all part of the plan with James' trainer Mike Mancias, to play James heavy minutes until January or February and then taper him down for a couple of months to get him primed for the postseason.

It's all or nothing, as we saw last week, when Lue chose to rest James and the rest of the Big Three for the Cavs' road game in Memphis. It was open season on James -- former players and media pundits alike criticizing him for not doing his duty to satisfy paying customers. It all irked James, understandably, as he continues to feel like people are missing the point with him, making him the target of scrutiny no matter what he does. That he wore a shirt with the LeBron James Family Foundation's logo emblazoned on the breast pocket for his first media remarks since skipping the road game against the Memphis Grizzlies certainly could have been taken as him trying to send a message: Want to criticize me? Look at what's across my heart.

These are the type of ancillary stories that have nearly turned the last couple of seasons sideways for the Cavs: the cryptic tweets, the body language lapses, the tension.

For the Cavs, there's no reason to panic right now. Certainly not. But it's no time for celebration either.

"OK, we got one win," Channing Frye said Tuesday. "We've still got, I'm bad at math, 57 more games left."

And a lot more to figure out.