Cleveland Cavaliers Blog – Page 58 – NBA Blog

Cleveland Cavaliers fire coach Byron Scott

The Cleveland Cavaliers have released Head Coach Byron Scott, the team announced today from Cleveland Clinic Courts. The announcement was made by Cavaliers General Manager Chris Grant.

“I have tremendous respect for Byron professionally and a great deal of admiration for him personally. At the same time, it is critical for where we are as a team to ensure that we capitalize on every opportunity for development and success and we have fallen short of that on the court,” said Grant. “I believe we needed to make this change in order to get to a better position to achieve our goals. I know I speak on behalf of the entire Cavs organization and the Cleveland community, in thanking Byron for his three years here and his hard work and many contributions on and off the court. We wish Bryon and his wife, Anita, the best.”

Scott, 52, was named the 18th head coach in Cleveland Cavaliers history on July 1, 2010. The Cavaliers’ record during Scott’s tenure as Head Coach was 64-166.

“I want to thank Chris Grant, Dan Gilbert and the Cavaliers organization for the opportunity I had to coach this team the last three seasons,” said Scott. “Anita and I have enjoyed our time here in Cleveland and greatly appreciate the support we received from this special community and the many friendships we developed. I am certainly proud of the progress that many of our players have made and greatly appreciate the dedication of my coaches and our team in our efforts to attain the success we all desired.”

The Cavaliers will immediately commence a search, led by General Manager Chris Grant, for the team’s next head coach.

“I wish Byron Scott and his entire family the best going forward. Byron is a class guy, both on and off the court, and I thank him for his three years of coaching the Cavaliers,” said Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert.

“I fully support the difficult move that was made today. Although we saw progress with young individual player development, we did not see the kind of progress we expected on the team level this past season. We understand it was challenging with the injuries, but when you are at our stage in the building process, you don’t only measure team progress in wins and losses.

It has been our strong and stated belief that when our team once again returns to competing at the NBA’s highest levels it will be because we have achieved our goals on the defensive side of the court.

Our fans have been incredibly loyal and supportive during these transition years. They deserve better than we have been delivering as of late and it is our full intent to deliver them the kind of competitive team that they expect to see on the court beginning next season,” Gilbert concluded.

Read NBA fan reaction and share your opinion in this basketball forum topic.

Kyrie Irving apologizes for skipping fan event

Cavaliers All-Star guard Kyrie Irving apologized for skipping a postgame ceremony for fans following Cleveland’s final home game on Monday against Miami.

Irving was stripped of the ball by Norris Cole in the closing seconds of the 96-95 loss to the Heat, who rested LeBron James and most of their stars. Irving immediately ran off the floor and to the locker room instead of participating in a jersey giveaway on ”Fan Appreciation Night.” All the Cavs players handed out their game-worn jerseys and sneakers.

Irving, the league’s reigning Rookie of the Year, posted an apology on his Twitter account for missing the event.

”I want to personally apologize to all the Cavs fans for my actions yesterday,” Irving wrote. ”It was truly unfair to you guys. I’m very appreciative for all of you guys. Your love and passion for the organization and city is what pushes me to be great.”

— Reported by Tom Withers of the Associated Press

Kyrie Irving not looking to discuss job status of coach Byron Scott

Cavaliers All-Star guard Kyrie Irving isn’t addressing questions regarding the future of Cleveland coach Byron Scott.

The Cavaliers had dropped 12-of-14 games going into Sunday’s game against Orlando. The recent slide has led to speculation that Scott, who is 63-160 in three seasons, may not be back for a fourth.

Irving, who has spoken about his close relationship with Scott several times during his two seasons with the team, said Sunday he’s thinking more about the final seven games of the Cavaliers’ season rather than the coaching situation.

“Until that time comes, I’m not really worried about it,” Irving said. “To even imagine that, I’m not going down that road. I’m focused on finishing the season with him and that’s all that matters right now.”

— Reported by the Associated Press

Big game from Tristan Thompson helps Cavs end losing streak

Tristan Thompson’s new career highs of 29 points and 17 rebounds weren’t nearly as important to him as the number he helped the Cleveland Cavaliers avoid.

There will be no 11th straight loss for Cleveland.

Thompson and the Cavaliers dominated Boston inside as Cleveland ended its 10-game losing streak by beating the Celtics 97-91 on Friday night.

”During this losing streak, we had a lot of games we should have won but at the end of the day we ended up taking the L,” Thompson said. ”Tonight was our game to win. We knew we had to take it and bring it back to Cleveland.”

It was the second time in two days Thompson took on a leadership role for the Cavaliers. After practice Thursday, he lashed out at critics who blame the Cavaliers’ woes on coach Byron Scott and rumors that he won’t be back for a fourth season. Thompson called the speculation ”bogus,” saying it was the players’ responsibility to work their way out of the slide…

Alonzo Gee also had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who avenged their most painful loss of the skid…

Wayne Ellington scored 12 points and Kyrie Irving added 11 points for Cleveland in his third game back since missing eight with a sprained shoulder.

The Celtics played without team captain Paul Pierce, who was out with a sore ankle…

Green scored 23 points for Boston and Shavlik Randolph had 16 points before fouling out with 6:57 left in the fourth. Brandon Bass scored 12 and Avery Bradley had 10 points for Boston.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Hawks hand Cavaliers ninth straight loss

Devin Harris scored a season-high 25 points and Josh Smith nearly added a triple-double Monday night as the Atlanta Hawks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-94 to improve their chances of securing home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Smith had 18 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists before a sparse crowd in Philips Arena to help the Hawks (42-33) pull within one game of Brooklyn (42-31) for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

Reserve Marreese Speights scored 14 of his 22 in the final quarter, but the Cavs (22-51) did not seriously threaten after pulling within 58-56 early in the third period.

Shaun Livingston, starting with Kyrie Irving not playing in the second night of a back-to-back, had 14 points and six assists in Cleveland’s ninth straight loss.

Harris, who scored 13 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s win over the visiting Magic, picked up where he left off. He scored Atlanta’s first seven points and had 11 in the first quarter as the Hawks built a 25-19 lead…

Al Horford returned to start at center for Atlanta after missing two games with a stomach illness. He had 16 points and six rebounds before fouling out in the fourth quarter.

— Reported by Matt Winkeljohn of the Associated Press

Kyrie Irving returns, but Cavs lose to Hornets

Kyrie Irving, the king of the fourth-quarter comeback, was back on Sunday. The fourth-quarter comeback was not.

Even with the All-Star point guard returning from his sprained left shoulder and playing for the first time in three weeks, the Cavaliers ran into their same old problem in the third quarter and lost to the Hornets at New Orleans Arena, 112-92.

Irving missed eight games with the injury suffered on March 10 in Toronto, and he led the Cavs with 31 points in 28:40 on Sunday. But he didn’t have enough help and the Cavs fell to 22-50 as their longest losing streak of the season reached eight games. Greivis Vasques had 25 points and Ryan Anderson added 23 for New Orleans, 26-48.

— Reported by Mary Schmitt Boyer of the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Irving was announced as a surprise return less than two hours prior to the game, but he couldn’t help a defense that was beaten badly in transition and around the perimeter. The Hornets made 12 of 21 3-pointers and scored 19 fast break points, a rarity against a Cavs team that typically gives up few points on the break.

— Reported by Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal

Jeff Green layup at buzzer lifts Celtics over Cavaliers

The reeling and battered Boston Celtics were seconds away from matching their longest losing streak of the season.

Then Jeff Green saved the day.

Green hit the winning layup at the buzzer and scored 21 points, and the Celtics snapped a five-game losing streak with a 93-92 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night.

It was obvious Boston, which had lost seven of nine coming in and was again without star forward Kevin Garnett, needed something positive to happen. An uncharacteristic late-season slide had dropped the Celtics to seventh place in the Eastern Conference and it looked as if the skid would continue when Cleveland built an 86-72 lead with just over eight minutes to play.

”It was a huge win,” said forward Paul Pierce, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds. ”We didn’t play well from the second quarter on, but we found a way. It seemed like we were mentally fatigued and physically fatigued, but we put it all together at the end.”

Wayne Ellington scored 16 points to lead Cleveland, which has lost six in a row – matching a season high – and 10 of 12.

— Reported by Steve Herrick of the Associated Press

Heat barely survive Cavs, get 24th win in a row

Miami’s winning streak was in danger of disappearing – in Cleveland, of all places.

But LeBron James wouldn’t give up.

”That guy right there doesn’t want to lose in this building,” teammate Dwayne Wade said, nodding toward James, who left many angry Cavaliers fans behind when he bolted for Miami as a free agent three years ago. ”Not tonight.”

James scored 25 points as the Heat overcame a 27-point deficit in the third quarter and won their 24th straight game, 98-95 over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night to extend the second-longest winning streak in NBA history.

The Heat are within nine games of matching the record of 33 consecutive wins held by the 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers. Once believed to be untouchable, the mark is now within reach.

James and his teammates have insisted the record isn’t one of their goals, and for more than 30 minutes the defending champions seemed disinterested and on the verge of losing for the first time since Feb. 1. Miami trailed 67-40 with 7:44 left in the third quarter.

— Reported by Tom Withers of the Associated Press

Cavs guard Dion Waiters out at least one week

Cavaliers guard Dion Waiters left last night’s game vs. the Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena during the first half with left knee soreness and did not return to play. Waiters was examined at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health today by Cavaliers Head Team Physician Dr. Richard Parker.

The exam, including an MRI, revealed a small, loose cartilage fragment in his left knee.

Waiters will be OUT for approximately one week while he undergoes a period of rest, treatment and additional observation and examination.

Following this period, and based on the continued evaluation of his knee, next steps regarding his treatment and recovery will be established, including the potential for an arthroscopic procedure.

Paul George denies accusation from Daniel Gibson

Indiana Pacers All-Star Paul George defended himself and dismissed any thought that he was a dirty player before the Pacers’ game against the Cavaliers on Monday.

George involuntarily found himself caught in the fallout of Kobe Bryant’s ankle injury when Cavs guard Daniel Gibson over the weekend accused George of perhaps intentionally trying to hurt him last season.

“I’m not a dirty player,” George said Monday. “A young guy doesn’t come into the league being a dirty player. But whatever he wants to say, he can say.”

George was a second-year guard last season when Gibson landed on his foot during a game. Gibson wound up with a torn tendon that needed to be surgically repaired and ended his season. Gibson said his foot still isn’t 100 percent healthy.

— Reported by Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal