(On the game tonight): "I thought it was a tough night for us in the turnover department. I thought we had a lot of unforced turnovers throughout the course of the game, specifically in that third quarter. Whether it's feeding the post or trying to make a simple pass, we just kept losing the handle on the basketball which hurt our opportunity to have a chance to score the ball. The turnovers were a big factor in the game."
(On what he liked in his team's play tonight): "I thought we had spurts where we spaced the floor the right way, moved the basketball, drove and kick, shared the ball and got some good looks. We had some wide open looks from guys who normally knock shots down and they just didn't go down tonight. I thought throughout the course of the game, besides the turnover part, our guys played a decent ball game. Defensively, at times we looked pretty good. Miami is a good basketball team. That's a team that knows how to space the floor and knows how to play off one another well. I thought for the most part our coverage, the guys did were right. We had some success with them but we couldn't take care of the ball."
(On expectations of the team): "I think everyone in this business should have expectations. You should have something you want to reach for. I'm okay with the expectations. The one thing I've said all along was it's going to be a process. At times you see us making progress out there. I thought at times tonight we had some of the best spacing and drive and kick basketball that we had all year. Even in terms of sharing the ball with one another, we did a good job with that at times. At the beginning of the game, we found ways to get Bynum the ball without turning it over. Our spacing was pretty good and he was able to get some good looks on that low block."
(On losing the lead in the second quarter): "You have to give credit to (the Heat); they're a talented ball club. They were just making shots and we had a few defensive breakdowns that gave them the lead. They kind of ran away with it and kept us at a distance between that ten and twelve mark."
(On the Heat's defense after the first quarter): "They were just being more aggressive. Their (double-teams) helped from an aggression standpoint and got their defense going. They were being physical with me on pick-and-rolls. Our guys stepped up, but were just couldn't get over that hump after the second quarter."
(On if he's getting frustrated with missing open shots): "It's always frustrating when you're not making shots, not only for myself, but for my teammates as well. There has been a few games where I haven't been shooting well, but that's just a part of the game. I'm getting in early, staying late and trying to get up as many shots as possible. I guarantee once I get over this hump, there's no looking back. We just have to continue to compete hard and play hard for 48 minutes. Hopefully, that will go in our favor going forward."
(On how he played tonight): "I played alright. Not good enough. We didn't win, so it really doesn't matter."
(On getting to the line): "I just have to continue to be aggressive, continue to keep attacking. More importantly, when I get to the line, I have to make my foul shots. They call that free money. You have to take that free money. It's frustrating. I have to hear that all night tonight from my mom. I can't even enjoy my Thanksgiving tonight."
(On if he approached tonight's game differently than others): "I know I had a hop in my step tonight and I just wanted to be aggressive. At the end of the day, I just wanted to be aggressive. I just wanted to keep continue to keep attacking and keep putting pressure on the defense.
(On the defensive disposition after the first quarter): "We have to play that way. For better or worse, sometimes it doesn't work out, but we have to be aggressive and have to be disruptive. It plays to our strengths, gets our guys active with our athleticism and our quickness so you can see the change in disposition. I'd prefer for it to be more consistent obviously, but from that point on for the most part, our guys filed in on making active plays."
(On ball movement): "The ball was moving great and the thing I liked about it was the ball was moving and we were missing shots... But, that didn't deter us or frustrate us. Guys trusted it and continued to play our game and eventually we made enough of the shots and had some very good possessions and guys were able to be comfortable from that ball movement."
(On what has been consistent for the past eight wins): "Our defense has been better, certainly much better from those first few games of the season, and the ball continues to move. Really since the Boston game, it's (defensive consistency) been a notable improvement on that side of the court. Not only the activity, but the focus and commitment – finishing plays, even on the glass, the way we started the season is not the type of habit we want to create. We know we're going to have to continue to try to get better, there's things we can clean up. Our past two starts have not been great. But the guys have been engaged and we're using our depth and the guys are playing hard. "
(On what he liked about their play): "We've just been getting into our identity. We've been defending and we've been sharing the ball offensively. If we do that, we give ourselves a chance to win every night."
(On what triggered defensively after the first quarter): "We got up into their pick-and-rolls. They run a ton of pick-and-rolls with Waiters and Kyrie and Jarrett Jack and we just started to get up into them a little more and make the passes a little bit tougher, and we made some steals. We also did a great job of rebounding after those first couple minutes and that definitely helped in our fast breaks."
(On how it felt playing tonight): "It felt good. I didn't feel good early on but once I got back into the game I started to feel good, got a quick seven, I believe. And then in the second quarter, definitely got a good rhythm and my guys started knocking back some shots, got some rebounds, got some steals so my activity level was up."
(On the crowd being less hostile): "It's been less and less since the first time I came here. It can't ever get worse than that. For us, and for me, coming in with the focus of trying to get a win on the road was my main thing."
(On Kyrie struggling): "I think they're all struggling, and its trickled down to him as well. He's unbelievable talent, we all know that, but they're all struggling and trying to find exactly who their identity is offensively and defensively. If they get things in order, they have some really good pieces here and I know Mike is pushing them to be better. We'll see what happens."
(On what they did to slow Kyrie): "We're an aggressive, defensive team. We try to put a lot of pressure on the point guards and try to take their offense off rhythm. Kyrie is going to make some shots, he's going to get into the lane, he's going to make some plays. He's a great player, but we just try to put bodies in front of him and end up with results."
CAVALIERS NOTES:
• Cleveland outscored Miami off the bench 58-32 and have now outscored their opponent off the bench in 12 of 15 contests. Over the past four games, the Cavs reserves are averaging 53.5 points per game. On the season, the bench is averaging 36.9 points per game.
• The Cavaliers held a 47-41 rebounding edge over the Heat, including 12-2 on the offensive glass leading to a 11-4 second chance points advantage.
• Dion Waiters finished with a team-high 24 points on 7-14 (.500) shooting, six rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes. Waiters 24 points matches his season high (vs. PHI 11/9/13).
• Kyrie Irving tallied 16 points, three rebounds, three assists and one steal in 34 minutes.
• Earl Clark recorded 13 points, including 3-5 (.600) from the three-point line, two rebounds, two assists and a team-high tying two steals in 27 minutes off the bench. Clark is shooting 14-23 (.609) from three over his last six games.
• Jarrett Jack tallied eight points on 3-6 (.500) shooting, including 2-4 (.500) from the three-point line, to go along with five rebounds, a team-high six assists, one steal and one block in 37 minutes off the bench. On the season, Jack is averaging 3.9 assists per game.
• Tristan Thompson finished with a game-high 11 rebounds in 23 minutes. Thompson has recorded 10 or more rebounds in eight of 15 contests this season.