1. On Friday night, the Cavaliers snapped out of the longest funk in team history – going toe-to-toe with the Clippers for 48 minutes and an extra session to notch the dramatic win. Two nights later, the funk returned.
The Wizards, who had set a mark of their own for road ineptitude, took it to the Wine and Gold from the opening tip – leading wire-to-wire and handing Cleveland the frustrating 115-100 loss on Sunday night at The Q.
The Cavaliers were flat from the start, and the Wizards – who had dropped 25 straight contests away from the District of Columbia – came out swinging. By the time the smoke had cleared from a one-sided first half, the Wizards had scored 68 points and hit the locker room up 22.
By late in the third quarter, the Wizards ran their lead to 25. A pair of three-pointers by Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon got the Cavaliers to within 11 – 102-91 – midway through the fourth period, but Cleveland would get no closer.
A sloppy Cavaliers team committed 17 turnovers – including seven by Mo Williams – that led to 25 Wizards points. Washington lapped Cleveland, 26-13, in fastbreak points and outscored the Cavs, 52-38, in the paint.
“I don’t think there’s any way in the world that we should be in that locker room thinking that after we get a win against the Clippers that we’ve arrived or that we’re better than everybody else,” said Byron Scott. “We have to come out with that sense of urgency that we talked about and I just didn’t see that tonight.”
The Cavaliers were led by Antawn Jamison, who finished with 21 points on 7-for-15 shooting, including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.
J.J. Hickson – coming off a monster game on Friday – doubled-up with 16 points and 13 boards on Sunday. Hickson had at least three of his 18 shot attempts rejected by the Wizards, who swatted 12 shots overall to just one for the Wine and Gold.
“We’re not a team that can come out flat and win it all in the fourth quarter,” said Hickson. “We have to play hard for 48 minutes, cut down on turnovers for 48 minutes, and do the little things that you need to do to win games.”
Ramon Sessions came off Cleveland’s bench to add 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Sessions added six assists, four boards, three steals and the Cavs’ lone blocked-shot.
Jamario Moon finished 4-of-6 from long-distance, pitching in with 12 points off Byron Scott’s bench. Anthony Parker and Mo Williams finished with 10 points apiece – with Mo leading Cleveland with eight assists.
Washington’s Nick Young led all scorers with 31 points and impressive rookie, John Wall, paced both clubs with 14 assists.
The Cavaliers close out the season’s first half on Wednesday night when they welcome the World Champion Lakers to The Q in the final game before the All-Star break.
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2. Two historic records were snapped at The Q in a matter of 48 hours. On Friday, of course, the Cavs snapped a 26-game losing streak. On Sunday, the Wizards halted a 25-game road losing streak – four short of the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks.
3. On Sunday, Washington snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Cavaliers at The Q.
4. No team in the NBA has made a bigger point jump than the Cavaliers from January to February. In January, Cleveland was scoring 92.8 ppg and upped that to 106.3 this month – a 13.5-point improvement.
5. On Saturday at Mercy Hospital in North Carolina, Anderson Varejao underwent successful surgery to repair his ruptured right peroneal longus tendon. The Wild Thing will now go through a period of rest, treatment and rehabilitation for the next 12-16 weeks.
6. The Cavaliers had six players in double-figures for the seventh time this season.
7. One game after returning from a hip injury, Mo Williams got the starting nod on Sunday – giving the Cavaliers their 20th different starting five this year.
8. Daniel Gibson left the game in the second quarter with a left quad strain and didn’t return.
9. In February, J.J. Hickson is averaging 19.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per contest. The third-year pro from NC State has doubled-up in each of his last four games and has 13 on the season.
10. Ramon Sessions has been almost as hot in February. In seven games this month, the former Nevada standout is averaging 17.9 points and 9.0 assists per game. In that span, he’s shooting .592 from the field and .872 from the stripe.
Joe Gabriele is the official beat writer for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Cavs.com. You can follow Joe and send him your questions on Twitter at @CavsJoeG.