OPINION Lue made the correct, and really only, choice

The wonder isn’t that Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue was feeling so poorly, so out of sorts, that he announced on March 19 he was taking a leave of absence.

The wonder was that he didn’t do it sooner.

Judging from his public appearances, it’s been clear for many weeks, maybe a couple of months, that something wasn’t right with the man who’s led the Cavs to two straight trips to the NBA Finals and the 2016 NBA title.

Not given to overt displays of emotion or off-thecuff humor, Lue recently has seemed detached and weary in many of his regularly scheduled interactions with reporters..

On several occasions, he’s been asked if he was battling the flu. He shrugged his shoulders, shook his head in the negative and moved on to the next question.

It turned out to be more the garden-variety, Northeast Ohio winter blahs that prompted Lue to take himself off the bench indefinitely. He acknowledged in a statement released by the Cavs to having had “chest pains and other troubling symptoms, compounded by a loss of sleep, throughout the year. Despite a battery of tests, there have been no conclusions as to what the exact issue is.”

Those aren’t symptoms to be taken lightly, despite Lue having the apparent fitness level of a guy who played basketball at the highest level for four years in high school, four years at Nebraska and 11 seasons in the NBA.

And he’s only 40, which is young by standards applied to NBA coaches.

Still, all of those sleepdeprived nights, chest pains and other signs of physical malaise prompted Lue to stifle his competitive instincts and call a time out on a coaching career that is off to an auspicious start.

The matter came to a head on March 17, when Lue stayed in the locker room for the second half of the final game of a sixgame trip. The Cavs hung on to beat the Bulls, but something clicked in Lue’s brain.

When the Cavs convened for their shoot-around on the morning of March 19, in advance of playing Milwaukee at Quicken Loans Arena, Lue was conspicuous by his absence, Cavs superstar LeBron James said he hadn’t heard anything about Lue electing to sideline himself until showing up for practice.

James said he wasn’t surprised. He said Lue’s health matters more than wins and losses. He said the team’s coaches and players would have to rise to the occasion in Lue’s absence.

As is almost always the case with the pride of Akron, four-time NBA Most Valuable Player and face of the franchise, James said the right things upon learning of the latest challenge to face the Cavs in a season that’s been full of them.

James and the Cavs passed their first with flying colors. They rode yet another triple-double by the redoubtable James (40 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) to a 124-117 victory over the Bucks.

There was plenty of good news beyond the bravura performance by James.

All-Star forward Kevin Love returned after missing seven weeks and 21 games with a broken bone in his left hand. He played well, finishing with 18 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes. A healthy and productive Love enhances the Cavs’ chances of having another long run in the playoffs.

With assistant head coach Larry Drew at the helm, the Cavs also had double-figure scoring performances from Jordan Clarkson, Ante Zizic, Jeff Green and Kyle Korver.

The Cavs will not wilt with Lue on the mend. There is every reason to hope he is sufficiently recovered by the regularseason finale on April 11 to rejoin his team for the playoffs.

This is serious stuff, as witnessed by Indians manager’s Terry Francona’s struggles with health issues last season that ultimately led to his missing three weeks and having heart surgery.

Francona lived to manage another day.

There is no need for Lue to push himself or the timetable for his return.

David S. Glasier