Cleveland Cavaliers Blog – Page 82 – NBA Blog

Wizards win first road game of season

Getting to play the Cavaliers tends to cure whatever ills an NBA team tends to have.

After breaking their 26-game losing streak to beat the Los Angeles Clippers, the Cavs immediately returned to their losing ways and got dropped in dramatic fashion by the Wizards Sunday.

The Wizards were 0-25 on the road coming into this game.

The AP reports:

Nick Young scored 31 points, John Wall had 19 points and 14 assists and Washington snapped its 25-game road winless streak with a 115-100 win Sunday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who reverted to their losing ways one game after ending their record skid.

The Wizards opened a 25-point lead in the third quarter, survived a Cleveland comeback and got their first road win since April 9 at Boston.

Antawn Jamison scored 21 and J.J. Hickson added 16 and 13 rebounds for the Cavs, who stopped their losing streak at 26 on Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers but failed to post back-to-back wins for the second time this season.

Washington finished four losses shy of matching the league’s longest losing streak to start a season, 29 in a row by the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks.

Blown out and embarrassed in a 118-94 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday, the Wizards came out focused on getting a win outside D.C.’s city limits. They started 9 of 11 from the field and opened a 17-point lead in the first quarter on Young’s second straight three-point play.

The Cavs were down 68-46 at the half, showed some life in the third quarter but never seriously threatened the Wizards.

Point guard Mo Williams, who recently returned for Cleveland, struggled tonight, but should be worth watching over the next few games as he regains form.

Cavs win! 26-game Cavaliers losing streak ends

By Jeff Lenchiner

Cleveland Cavaliers Forward Antawn Jamison (4) scores during 1st half action against The Miami Heat at the American Airlines Arena, in Miami Florida, December 15, 2010. UPI/Susan Knowles... Photo via Newscom

The Cleveland Cavaliers 26-game losing streak ended Friday night at home with a 126-119 overtime win over the Los Angeles Clippers.

Cavs forward Antawn Jamison led with 11-of-20 shooting for 35 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Center J.J. Hickson shot 12-of-19 for 27 points and 14 rebounds, though he had one assist with seven turnovers. And today’s game marked the return of usual starting point guard Mo Williams, who came off the bench and took 18 shots for 17 points and 14 assists with just two turnovers.

In the loss for the Clippers, Blake Griffin had 32 points and 13 rebounds, Baron Davis had 26 points and seven assists, and Randy Foye scored 23.

According to the Associated Press, “Antawn Jamison scored 35 points and made the game’s biggest basket, a 3-pointer with 22 seconds left in OT for the Cavs. Daniel Gibson scored 10 in overtime and J.J. Hickson, playing like a man possessed all night in a matchup with Blake Griffin, added 27 points and 14 rebounds. The Clippers quickly cut a six-point deficit to 120-119 on Randy Foye’s 3 with 44 seconds to go. But Jamison responded by popping outside and draining his 3 from the left wing to revive the hopes of Cleveland fans, whose emotions went up and down all night.”

Prior to tonight’s victory, the Cavs had not won since beating the New York Knicks 109-102 in Cleveland on December 18. And before that, they hadn’t won since November 27 when, playing at home, they beat the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Cavaliers host the Washington Wizards Sunday and the Los Angeles Lakers Wednesday as they try to build upon tonight’s short burst of much-needed success.

Mo Williams returns from injury for Cavaliers

The AP reports:

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.

Cavs lose 26th straight game

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.

Cleveland Cavaliers losing streak hits 25 games, most in NBA history

The AP reports:

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.”

Cavs lose record-setting 24th straight game

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.

Read fan reaction and discuss your own opinion on our NBA Forum.

Cavs drop 23rd straight, tie single-season record

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.”

Daniel Gibson excused to miss Grizzlies game and attend personal matter

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.

Mo Williams out due to hip issue

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.

Cavaliers struggling even more than expected

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.”