The Cavaliers had such high hopes against the short-handed Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night at The Q.
Then they fell flat.
Klay Thompson had a career-high 32 points, Jarrett Jack added 26 points and tied his career high with 12 assists and David Lee had 20 points and 13 rebounds as the Warriors, missing three starters and a key reserve, clobbered the Cavs, 108-95.
There went the Cavs’ chances for their first four-game winning streak under coach Byron Scott, as well as their first non-losing month since he took over in 2010-11. The magical week that was – three straight wins for the team and an All-Star berth and NBA Eastern Conference Player of the Week award for Kyrie Irving – was gone quicker than Thompson’s release at the 3-point line.
“We weren’t worrying about finishing .500,” said Tristan Thompson, who finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds despite a bruised left middle finger that required X-rays, which were negative. “We were worried about the task at hand – that’s winning the game against the Golden State Warriors. We didn’t get it done. We beat ourselves tonight. We didn’t come out with the energy and we just gave them the W.”
Dion Waiters had 18 points and seven assists, and Tyler Zeller had 16 points and five assists, but just three rebounds.
Irving, who was sick enough to miss the morning shootaround, finished with 14 points, four assists and three rebounds but made just 5 of 17 shots.
“I just wasn’t myself out there in terms of my mental focus, but that’s no excuse,” Irving said. “I don’t want to make any excuses . . . I was trying to find something deep within, but I just couldn’t find it, couldn’t hit a shot.
“That’s basically the game for me personally, just feeling like crap.”
Not everybody in the Cavs’ locker room was sick, but they were all feeling the same way as Irving after the Cavs fell to 6-8 in January and 13-33 overall.
“Everyone should be disappointed in themselves,” Tristan Thompson said. “I’m disappointed in myself with what David Lee did. Everyone should be disappointed. We didn’t come out with energy and didn’t win the game. It doesn’t matter – sickness, illness. Guys get sick. We’re human. We’re not robots.
“With that being said, we should have come out and had more fight in us.”
The Warriors were missing starters Harrison Barnes (sore left knee), Stephen Curry (sprained right ankle) and Andrew Bogut, who returned Monday after missing 38 games recovering from left ankle surgery and is not playing in back-to-back games yet. They also were without key reserve Carl Landry (bruised left shoulder). Yet they jumped off to a 13-4 lead that set the tone for the game.
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