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The AP reports:
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Point guard Mo Williams is returning from a hip injury to help the Cavaliers end their record 26-game losing streak.
Williams will come off the bench and play Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers. He has been slowed by injuries since training camp.
Williams hasn’t played since Jan. 15.
The AP reports:
The Cavaliers’ record-setting losing streak is intact.
Byron Scott finally snapped.
Cleveland’s first-year coach unloaded on his team during and after a listless 103-94 loss on Wednesday night, extending the Cavs’ NBA record skid to 26 and tying them with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers—the longtime national punchline for failure—for the longest stretch of incompetence in major American pro sports.
“I’m mad as hell,” said Scott, who kept the postgame locker room closed for more than 30 minutes. “I can deal with losing, especially when our guys play as hard as they have in the last couple weeks, but I find it very hard to deal with when guys don’t come out ready to play.”
The Pistons were supposedly a beatable opponent for the cellar-dwelling Cavs (8-45), still winless since Dec. 18 and now losers of a hard-to-imagine 36 of 37.
Instead, Cleveland’s season slipped further into shame.
“Everybody’s mad as hell,” guard Daniel Gibson said when told of his coach’s surly mood. “To lose like that and for it to get to this point and still sometimes not see a sense of urgency, I can see why it would push you to that point. What are you going to do? It’s either do it or don’t.
“The guys have to figure that out.”
The Cavs’ next chance to end the slide will be Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers. After that comes a home game against the road-winless Washington Wizards on Sunday.
The AP reports:
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The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their way into the NBA record book in fitting fashion—not with a blowout, but with the kind of head-slapping plays typical of a team that can’t do anything right.
Like a 7-foot center losing a jump ball to a 6-foot-2 guard. And a decent outside shooter deciding to pass as time expired instead of putting up a potential tying 3-pointer.
The miscues doomed the Cavs to a 99-96 loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Monday night, making it 25 straight losses, the most in league history no matter how it’s counted.
Cleveland set the single-season futility record a few days ago, but the league also keeps an overall losing streak record that takes into account skids stretched over two seasons. This topped that one, too, making the first year of the post-LeBron James era even more forgettable for the Cavaliers. The previous mark also was set by the Cavs, spanning the end of the 1981-82 season and the start of 1982-83.
“We’re in the record books, we all know that, something we don’t want to be a part of, but you can’t go back and turn back the hands of time,” forward Antawn Jamison said. “We’ve got to worry about moving forward. The most important thing is getting a win.” …
Since starting 7-9, the Cavs are 1-35. Their last win was on Dec. 18, more than seven weeks ago. Their only glimmer of hope is that the next seven games are at home, where their .227 winning percentage is more than double their success rate on the road.
“The guys are upset and rightfully so,” coach Byron Scott said. “I like that fact that guys are caring about the fact that we’re losing some close games.”
The Cleveland Cavaliers are now historically bad.
Saturday night, playing at home, the Cavs lost 111-105 to the Portland Trail Blazers. It was their 24th loss in a row, which sets the NBA all-time record for most consecutive losses over the course of a single season.
Down three after the first quarter, the Cavs stepped up and took a two-point lead at the half (57-55). But despite keeping it close most of the second half, they were unable to hang on for a victory.
In the win, Wesley Matthews shot 11-of-17 for 31 points. Nic Batum added 21 points. LaMarcus Aldridge on 19 shots had 20 points and 10 rebounds. The Blazers as a team shot 53.8% and nailed 12-of-19 from three-point range.
In the loss, the Cavs were led by Antawn Jamison, who on 16 shots had 17 points but just three rebounds. Ramon Sessions had 15 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Jamario Moon shot 5-of-6 off the bench for 14 points.
The Cavaliers are now 8-43, which is the worst record in the NBA.
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The AP reports:
The Cleveland Cavaliers are haunted again by losing No. 23.
The Cavaliers matched the longest single-season losing streak in NBA history, dropping their 23rd straight game with a 112-105 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night.
The Cavs tied the 1995-96 Grizzlies, then in Vancouver, and the 1997-98 Denver Nuggets for longest skid in one season, and can equal their own overall mark for futility with a loss in Saturday night’s game at home against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Cleveland lost 24 straight games spanning the 1981-82 and 1982-83 seasons.
“Watching the guys in the locker room, the one thing I can say is guys are very disappointed in the way we finished the game,” Cleveland coach Byron Scott said. “And maybe that’s a good thing.”
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Cleveland Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson has been excused by the team to return to Cleveland from Memphis in order to address a personal matter.
The 8-41 Cavs are in Memphis Friday night to face the Grizzlies, who are 26-24 overall and 15-7 at home this season.
Gibson is his team’s third-leading scorer and averages 13.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
Yesterday, Cavaliers guard Mo Williams underwent additional testing at the Cleveland Clinic and it has been determined that his recent symptoms are the result of moderate inflammation of his left hip joint.
Therefore, he underwent a cortisone injection today which will require a period of rest and then rehabilitation prior to returning to basketball activities.
No firm timetable has been set for his return to play.
Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal reports:
Life after LeBron James was going to be difficult for the Cavaliers. Everyone knew that before the season began, but no one saw this coming. Since starting the season 5-5, the Cavs have lost 25 of their past 28 games.
They set two futility records in a 112-57 loss Tuesday to the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers: The 55-point margin of defeat marked the worst loss in franchise history and the 57 points were the fewest the Cavs ever scored in a game.
If the Lakers didn’t score at all in the second half, their 57 points at halftime would have been enough to force overtime. Had the Lakers scored just one more basket, they would have doubled the Cavs’ scoring.
”We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but to come out and not compete? There’s no excuse for that,” said Cavs coach Byron Scott, who won three NBA championships as a player with the Lakers. ”I’m a Cleveland Cavalier right now, and the way we performed, that’s embarrassing to me.”
The AP reports:
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The Lakers humiliated the Cavs while sending them to their 11th straight loss, rolling to a 112-57 victory on Tuesday night in their best defensive performance of the shot clock era.
It was the Lakers’ third-largest margin of victory since moving to Los Angeles, with the two biggest coming in 1972 and 1966.
“You don’t ever imagine something like that,” Kobe Bryant said. “You just go out there and do your job and we did it for 48 minutes.”
Ron Artest and Andrew Bynum each scored 15 points, while Pau Gasol had 13 points and 14 rebounds. Bryant, Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown also scored 13 points for the defending NBA champion Lakers, who led the league’s worst team by 32 points at halftime on their way to winning their fifth in a row.
“I thought that was embarrassing,” said Cavs coach Byron Scott, who once starred for the Lakers. “I told them at halftime, `You look scared. You look flat-out scared. You’re playing against the world champions, and instead of just competing and playing hard, you look scared. You look scared to death.’ That was my take on it, as simple as that.” …
The Cavs were without starting center Anderson Varejao, who tore his right ankle in a routine conditioning drill. Also missing were missing Joey Graham (right quad strain), Daniel Gibson (left ankle sprain), Leon Powe (right torn meniscus) and Anthony Parker (lower back strain).
Anderson Varejao injured his right ankle and foot during Thursday afternoon’s team practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts. He was examined and received X-rays and MRI at Cleveland Clinic Sports Health immediately following practice, the results of which revealed an injury to the peroneus longus tendon.
In order to confirm the extent of the injury and diagnosis, a follow-up MRI was obtained today in Phoenix at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center. The results confirmed a complete tear of the peroneus longus in the midfoot of the right ankle and foot.
Anderson will return to Cleveland in the near future for further consultation and treatment decisions will be made and he will likely miss the remainder of the current season. Cavaliers Head Team Physician Dr. Richard Parker will coordinate additional consultations and facilitate subsequent treatment plan recommendations.