Despite their current losing streak, the Cavaliers insist this team is better than last season's.
Tristan Thompson could miss Tuesday's game at Miami.INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- Antawn Jamison says the past is the past.
Asked about the Cavaliers' three-game losing streak, which includes back-to-back blowouts against the Bulls and Hawks heading into Tuesday's game at Miami, the veteran power forward refused to revisit the struggles of last season.
"Last year is last year and that [expletive] is not going to happen," Jamison said emphatically after practice on Monday. "This is a different team. This is a better team, so what happened last year happened last year.
"The biggest thing for us is that we're 6-9, we're tied for seventh in the Eastern Conference and the most important thing is to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible."
Jamison called the effort against Chicago and Atlanta unacceptable, and he especially did not like the way the Cavs responded after Friday's 114-75 home loss to the Bulls, the worst home loss in franchise history.
"We realize the last three games is not who we are," he said. "We need to get back on track."
Guard Daniel Gibson says the fact that the Cavs are facing LeBron James and the Heat is incidental.
"We just lost two games by a substantial margin, so our focus is getting back to playing the type of basketball we were playing to start the season," said Gibson, who missed Saturday's game at Atlanta after a death in his extended family. "It's definitely a big game for us -- because of what's happened the last two games. We really want to go out and play well."
Gibson echoed Jamison's contention that the team is not headed into another tailspin. Last season, it seemed as if the Cavs never recovered from losing to the Heat in the first game against James with his new mates.
"We plan to get it back on track," Gibson said. "We're not worried about what happened last year. We definitely feel like this team is a better team and we're playing a lot better than we were last year. So our focus is really and genuinely getting it together and getting back to playing basketball the way we were playing and giving ourselves a chance to win -- taking care of the ball, playing good defense. That will give us a chance to win any game."
Coach Byron Scott said he was pleased with Monday's practice, especially with rookie Kyrie Irving. Scott has been riding Irving about his defense and benched him early in Friday's loss to Chicago after C.J. Watson, in for the injured Derrick Rose, blew by him.
"Today, I thought, was his best day defensively," Scott said of Irving. "He understands the mistakes that he's making. He has to correct them. But from an effort standpoint, I thought today was great. He's understanding what he has to do on that end of the floor and that he has to get better.
"Like I keep saying ... he's 19 years old. It's going to take some time. But I think he's headed in the right direction on that end of the floor."
Scott said he did not plan to change his lineup, rotation or approach.
"We have two bad games and everybody wants to panic and make all these changes," he said. "Like I told our guys today, we've had two bad games, and if the playoffs started today, we'd be in the seventh spot or the eighth spot. So it's not all that bad.
"We've just got to make sure that we go back to the basics and do the things we did the first 13 games, which was compete on the defensive end, play hard. Our effort was unbelievable. We had second and third efforts. The last couple games we haven't been getting that. It's just getting back to the little things we were doing the first 13 games."
Watch that screen: Gibson said he was trying to help Irving learn the ins and outs of the NBA.
"That's my little man," Gibson said. "We talk all the time. He knows a lot about the game of basketball so any opportunity I get to just give him a little something he soaks it up like a sponge. I've been trying to tell him about screens in this league. The guys are big. When they hit you on those screens, it's very easy to get stuck. So I've been teaching him some tricks that I've learned over time.
"He'll get better. He's athletic enough and he's already a good defender. At this level you've got to be smart, too."
Thompson questionable: Scott said rookie Tristan Thompson, who sprained his ankle in the fourth quarter at Atlanta, did not practice and just received treatment. He called him questionable for Tuesday would likely be a game-time decision.
Eyenga back: The Cavs recalled guard/forward Christian Eyenga from the Canton Charge. Eyenga was assigned to Canton on Jan. 4 and played in nine games (eight starts), averaging 8.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 24.6 minutes.
Eyenga was sent down to work on his defense, but apparently didn't work as hard as he did on Monday.
"I'm so tired," he said. "This is my first practice in, like, a month. We practiced but not so hard. I'm just really, really tired."
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2012/01/thompson_questionable_for_cavs.html
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