Cavaliers coach Byron Scott heaved a heavy sigh as he sat down in front of reporters after his team’s horrendous 100-92 loss to the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night at The Q.
“I’ll let you guys ask questions,” he said. “I have no answers.”
OK, then.
Q: Was this the worst loss of the year? After all, Minnesota, 19-30, was missing five players, including starters Kevin Love and Andrei Kirilenko, and came in with a four-game losing streak and an eight-game losing streak on the road.
A: “I don’t know if it’s the worst loss of the year, but it’s not pretty,” Scott said in an understatement as big as the stinkbomb the Cavs dropped. “We definitely didn’t come out and play the way I expected us to play.”
Q: How do you explain 20 turnovers?
A: “Careless,” he said. “Spacing was bad. Went back to some old bad habits. Offensively, not moving the ball. Trying to play one-on-one.
“I think we looked at them and said, ‘OK, this should be an easy win, so I’m going to get mine.’ Can’t play that way. It’s as simple as that.”
Q: What happened to the defense? The Wolves shot 52 percent in the game, 64 percent in the second half, 75 percent in the fourth quarter. It’s the fifth time in seven games an opponent has shot 50 percent or better.
A: “It was terrible in the second half,” Scott admitted. “I wouldn’t even call it defense.”
Q: Does this loss feel worse because you talked so much last week about learning how to play with the right focus against sub-.500 teams, especially at home? The Cavs are now 6-14 against sub-.500 teams, 3-6 at home.
A: “They haven’t learned,” Scott said. “That’s obvious.”
Q: What do you do now?
A: “It depends on how I sleep,” Scott said. “It’s kind of boiling inside of me now and I didn’t let it out in the locker room after the game. So going through film [Tuesday], knowing me, I’m going to get hot. You’ll probably hear me in not a very good mood.”
He’ll have a lot of company, including the 11,556 fans who suffered through it in person. The only thing they had to cheer was that All-Star Kyrie Irving returned and played the second half after rolling an ankle late in the first quarter when he hit a 3-pointer and landed on the foot of Alexey Shved coming down.
Irving finished with 20 points and seven assists for the Cavs, 16-36. He had three turnovers and made just 1 of 5 shots in the fourth quarter, three of which did not draw iron. He was receiving treatment after the game and did not address the media.
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