The Cleveland Cavaliers officially locked up the top seed in the Eastern Conference last night, convincingly taking down the scrappy Atlanta Hawks. The win ensured the team can rest its stars in tomorrow’s now-meaningless game against the Detroit Pistons.

Despite the importance of gaining home court through the East, Cleveland’s victory wasn’t the biggest storyline of the night. Personally, I was more intrigued by postgame comments from Kyrie Irving.

The Cavs’ star point guard seemed particularly distraught over last Saturday’s loss to the Chicago Bulls, specifically due to his poor fourth-quarter performance. Tasked with leading the reserves and maintaining a late lead, Irving instead got too dribble-happy, coughing up turnovers left and right and helping Chicago get back in the game.

While he accepted blame to the media afterwards, this apparently wasn’t all he did. Irving claims he reached out to LeBron James, texting the four-time MVP and telling him he realized he needed to play better.

“It was just a normal text message. That’s it,” Irving said. “Just about being better and being a better leader for that second unit when he’s on the bench. I know we expect a lot from one another. We have to hold each other accountable.”

That this happened at all is definitely huge for Cleveland. That Irving did this and then followed it up with a 35-point night against the Hawks is even bigger. Accountability has been an issue across the board for the Cavs this year, and Irving realizing it had become a problem is happening at the best possible time.

Each member of Cleveland’s Big Three has had his fair share of issues this year, and Irving is no exception. It’s been a down year for him in almost every statistic, his defense has been exploited often and his willingness to get others involved has been questioned. While ball movement has proven to be a key to the Cavs’ success, Irving has been guilty of playing way too much isolation basketball for the team’s liking.

The aforementioned performance against the Bulls was just the latest example of this. However, Saturday night clearly struck a chord with Irving, enough for him to own up to James.

Of course, this wouldn’t have made a difference if Irving took the court the very next game and put forth another shaky performance. Thankfully, this didn’t take place last night. Irving led the team in scoring thanks to his crucial output in the fourth, ensuring James could rest for the remainder of the game.

If Saturday’s struggles led to Irving finally seeing the light, the timing is perfect. The Cavaliers are gearing up for another Finals run, and if Irving is reverting to hero ball and giving away costly turnovers, said goal will be tough to achieve. However, with Irving telling James he needs to do more and be a better leader, the hope is the team will be even more aligned as the playoffs kick off this weekend.

The regular season is all but finished, and Cleveland needs everyone ready to fire on all cylinders. James appears to have already shifted into postseason mode, and if Irving is indeed ready to do the same, it’ll only help the cause.