Cleveland has the worst record in the league at 8-37 and can tie the franchise record for consecutive losses in one season on Friday against Denver.
BOSTON, Mass. -- It's a team record that nobody wants to own, and it's certainly one the Cavaliers don't want to discuss.
Tuesday's 112-97 loss to the Boston Celtics at TD Garden was the Cavs 22nd straight on the road, breaking the team record of 21 they set from Jan. 13-April 14, 2003.
"I just look at it game-by-game," coach Byron Scott said after his team's 18th straight loss, their 28th in 29 games. "I don't care about that crap, to be honest with you. I care about our guys getting better. That's what we're trying to do. I thought for the most part we represented ourselves OK. We could have done some things a little bit better, but we did OK."
Cleveland has the worst record in the league at 8-37 and can tie the franchise record for consecutive losses in one season on Friday against Denver. The team also shares the NBA record for consecutive losses with Denver -- 24 -- spread over two seasons for the Cavs.
But they don't want to talk about that either.
"That goes in one ear and out the other with me," said Antawn Jamison, who had 11 points and seven rebounds Tuesday. "I've been a part of not-too-positive things. It doesn't bother me at all.
"It bothers me to the point that we're doing it, but as far as letting it affect the way I play or the way I think about it, no. Thinking about it or letting it dwell doesn't help the psyche at all. That's something we don't need. The biggest thing for us is to go out there and compete and don't worry about what's being said in the news.
"You can't worry about what's being said. People are not going to feel sorry for us. We've just got to move on and try to compete and try to make some positive things come out of this situation."
That, of course, is easier said than done. The devastating loss to Miami on Dec. 2 in LeBron James' return to Cleveland may have ripped the heart out of the Cavaliers, but their current troubles actually started with a 106-87 home loss to the Celtics two nights earlier. So perhaps it was inevitable that the Cavs should set the road loss record against those same Celtics.
This was the first trip back here since losing Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference semifinals last spring, and things didn't go a whole lot better last night.
Paul Pierce had 24 points, 17 in the first quarter, to lead the Celtics to a league-best 34-10 record, including a league-best 22-3 at home. Manny Harris had 14 points, Ramon Sessions had 14 points and seven assists and J.J. Hickson had 12 points, 17 rebounds, five assists and four blocks for the Cavs.
Anthony Parker, who missed the last two games and nine of the last 10 with his bad back, contributed three points and two assists in 14 minutes. But his return was trumped by that of Kendrick Perkins for the Celtics, who was playing for the first time this season after hurting his right knee during the NBA Finals last June and having surgery.
Perkins got a standing ovation when he returned with 8:02 left in the first period and finished with seven points and six assists in 17 minutes. The lift he provided was more emotional than physical, as the Celtics outscored the Cavs in the second quarter, 33-19, leading by as many as 24 points.
"I thought the second quarter, obviously, was the quarter," Scott said. "They came out and pretty much hit everything and did pretty much what they wanted. That was the deciding factor."
After watching the Celtics dominate for eight straight quarters, the real question is how the Cleveland ever beat Boston on opening night. But that has an easy answer. The aging Celtics were coming off an emotional victory over visiting Miami the previous night.
If only all the questions about the Cavaliers could be answered so easily.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2011/01/22_skidoo_cleveland_cavaliers.html
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