Call it the Cleveland Catalyst.
Starting last week, in the lead-up to LeBron James' return to his scorned former city, the Miami Heat quietly began to transition from their wobbling ways to something more promising.
It started with wins over two subpar teams and took real form when they picked on an overmatched and overly emotional Cleveland Cavaliers team.
On Saturday night, when a letdown might have been expected, LeBron & Co. proved something more significant by beating the playoff-bound Atlanta Hawks at home.
"We're getting things in order," LeBron told reporters after Saturday's game.
Now it's time to see if it's permanent.
That'll become clear on their four-game, weeklong trip that kicks off against Milwaukee on Monday night.
Take care of three weaklings and steal one from a very good Utah team, and things start to look a whole lot different.
As in, promise rising and pressure receding.
"I think that's why we got into the situation," Wade told reporters. "We were trying to be the greatest at this and the best at this and the most dominant at this. We just need to play the game of basketball."
Indeed, the Heat's pressure-strained season began as a jumble of nerves, ill-fitting stars, players panicked enough to leak negative stories about their head coach and a head coach worried enough he clung to the word "process" like a life raft.
The tide might finally be turning.
And that process Erik Spoelstra talked about?
It could just include the Heat heating up to the tune of a 17-8 mark if they beat Milwaukee, Utah, Golden State and Sacramento.
For a team suddenly playing so well, with its Big Three on the same page and its bench showing sudden signs of a life, this seems very possible.
Utah is the only real test. The other three teams have a combined 19-37 record heading into Golden State's game at Oklahoma City on Sunday.
"I think for all of us, there's just a better feel in the locker room but also on the court," Wade said. "I think all three of us are starting to feel much more comfortable with our roles."
Beating one good team and three slouches would be secondary to a bigger upside if all goes well out West — using a viscerally critical Cleveland game to allow LeBron to confront his demons in order to propel the Heat toward the kind of unity they've been missing all season.
Do that — not just use the Cleveland experience and the rest of that week's momentum to power the coming week but continue to bond on the road — and the Big Three debacle that has had NBA players and executives grinning becomes merely a bumpy start to a suddenly scary team.
Chris Bosh is playing like an All-Star, plain and simple, after a shaky start in which he showcased more nerves and on-court awkwardness than solid play.
Wade, after some of the worst shooting performances of his career, seems to have harnessed the energy he put into protecting LeBron in Cleveland and put it back into his game.
The Chosen One's playing damn fine, too.
On Saturday, the Big Three scored 75 points; the Atlanta Hawks, 77.
This is a significant enough shift that it should be noted with pleasure in Miami, bitterness in Cleveland, a bit of fear everywhere else.
The Heat aren't fixed yet. But they could be on their way.
"I didn't think the world was coming to an end," Bosh told reporters. "I think we were standing in our own way."
There's still plenty of time for them to do more of that.
The only thing capable of overshadowing LeBron's on-court ability is his off-court peevishness, and the latter has a history of negatively impacting the former.
Wade needs to stay healthy, and happy, in order to summon the focus and determination that has marked his finer nights this season (again, LeBron has a huge role in the happiness part). And Bosh must continue to carry the weight of being part of this reviled Heat team, something he seems more comfortable with each night.
If they can do that — and, frightening thought, keep getting better — the trouble with their rebounding, play in the paint, disharmonious tendencies and the like might no longer serve as stumbling blocks to greatness.
That's a big "if" — an "if" with asterisks that include LeBron's history, the pressure on the team and all the egos.
"It's not easy with this kind of talent together," Wade said, referring to the Big Three learning to play as part of a single team. "All three of us are starting to feel more comfortable with our roles and with each other."
Still, there's more good news for the Heat than just Bosh, Wade and LeBron.
Mike Miller will return at some point this season. Mario Chalmers, suddenly seeing real minutes, has contributed in real ways that are already helping this team. Joel Anthony has shown flashes the past few days of much-needed grit and passion.
For this Miami Heat team, with its unprecedented collection of talent, ego and expectations, it's never too soon to talk about signs of trouble and what they portend.
Or signs of life — of the Big Three playing like a very Big Three — and what that, too, means for what's to come.
Who knows?
Maybe months from now, if all's well and the Heat have become in March what America expected them to be in November, perhaps we'll look back and point to the most unlikely catalyst of all: LeBron James' return to Cleveland.
Maybe that, more than anything, was what The King and his new team needed.
For The Chosen One to simply face down and defeat the mess he created out of his own ego and immaturity in the one place he truly is better than everyone else: the basketball court.
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