(On what he liked about the defensive effort): "That it was consistent, that we maintained…Your goal should be (allowing) 22 points under a quarter and we did that. That was the good part of it, just consistent defensive effort."
(On if any adjustments were needed): "Minor things but not game long. As the game went along, we made a few small adjustments, but things were working pretty good so we didn’t have to re-invent the wheel at any point."
(On LeBron James’ leadership): "I don’t think I have to say anything about him as a leader because he’s proven himself in this league for 12 years. He knows his influence is widespread. The things that he does, the way he plays the game and the impact that he has on those around him is consequential in every respect. You almost want to say to everybody that loves basketball, ‘if you want to be the best guy, then be the best guy’ and that’s what he does. He can impact in every way and he did that and obviously everyone followed.”
(On if LeBron handling the ball more was by design): “Not specifically by design. What we did want was not to slow it down so that if LeBron gets the rebound or he gets the inbound pass, there’s no reason for him to not push it and initiate. So there was no specific design for that. As a matter of fact, we tried or have tried the last couple of games, not successfully as we did today, to keep LeBron from playing so much point guard. Missing Delly (Matthew Dellavedova), as I told you in the pregame, it sort of put us in the situation where he had to handle the ball a lot more than normal just getting up over halfcourt. But today, you saw Will Cherry and what he can bring to the team. He certainly gave us valuable and quality minutes at valuable and quality parts of the game. It made it easier on LeBron and Kyrie to get their stuff without having to overhandle it.”
(On tonight’s game): “A win always makes things feel better, but we still have a lot of work to do. Tomorrow we’ll see some of the things we did well, see some of the things that we didn’t do so well and we can work on it. It’s a good start.”
(On what he liked about the defense tonight): “Defensively, we were just in tune. (Nikola) Vucevic is a big time player. I thought Andy (Anderson Varejao) and everyone else that had an opportunity to guard him did a great job and as guards we just tried to help them as much and keep bodies on them. (Victor) Oladipo got a little loose on us in the third quarter but for the most part, we did a good job at the point of attack.”
(On being a man of his word and coming out strong tonight): “I always have been. Like I’ve said, no one puts more pressure on me than myself. You go out and you don’t just talk about it, but you go out and you also show it too. I’m happy I’m able to make a couple plays to help our team get a victory.”
(On rumors about the team): “I’m probably the last person you want to ask about anybody that talks about rumors or sources... I don’t get involved in that stuff. I know one thing for sure what we have is a group of guys that wants to work every day and want to get better and that’s all we have to worry about. I really don’t listen to that stuff.”
(On the difference in play tonight): “Just communicating and just trying to work on things out there – making the necessary adjustments going forward and came out with some energy. Obviously they have a pretty young team over there, a great team. I liked the pace that Vic (Victor) Oladipo was playing with and they have a great rookie in Elfrid Payton. We just had to be the better team and come out and build confidence.”
(On answering when they started coming back): “Absolutely. We have a lot of great veterans on our team. Execution wise we just have to continue to have that – trust our plays, trust our offense, trust each other and we’ll be fine.”
(On what he liked most about his defense tonight): “Just the communication. The focus level on helping each other out. There were a lot of rotations that needed to be made tonight and we made them. We were trusting each other and definitely communication was a big part of that.”
(On playing Washington next): “It will be a tough, heart-felt game like it was in Washington, but we’re at home this time and know that we have to come out with a lot better focus, move the basketball and trust each other on both ends of the floor. I feel like we could come out with a win.”
(On his team tonight): “Our start was decent. I think we were prepared to play, but we couldn’t get ourselves going by making some buckets.”
(On the Cavs tonight): “They were quick to get out in transition. I think they had three dunks early in the first. That’s something that we wanted to address. When you play a team like (the Cavs), you kind of shrink the play selection down that you’re going to run. You try to take advantage of the defense that they’re in. I think the assist totals would have been up if shots would’ve gone in.”
(On facing LeBron James): "It just puts a premium on (not being able to) give up that offensive rebound. You can’t turn (the ball) over. You’ve got to get a great shot every time because he’s one of the best in the game. He’s going to do great things. That’s what great players do every single night.”
(On the Cavs): “They did a good job getting their hands on balls, getting a lot of steals and getting deflections. They did a great job rotating and stuff like that, so just credit to them for playing a great game. We knew they were going to come out on fire.”
(On his team’s deficit tonight): “It is what it is. At the end of the day, we’ve just got to keep pushing forward in games no matter if we’re down 10, 15, 20 or 30 (points). We’ve got to keep playing. We’ve got to keep being relentless and stay in attack mode because we have to build good habits. It’s just something we’ve got to work on.”
(On what he brings to his team): “I just feel like I can get to the rim. It’s as simple as that. I can keep my dribble alive, kick it out or make a layup, so I have a lot of options. I’ve just got to be aggressive. When I play passive is when I make mistakes, when I do dumb stuff. So I’ve just got to stay aggressive.”
CAVALIERS NOTES:
- The Cleveland Cavaliers’ 106-74 (+32) victory over Orlando was the largest of the 2014-15 campaign and the biggest ever against the Magic (+27 twice, February 23, 1990 and December 4, 1996). The Wine and Gold have now defeated Orlando in eight straight meetings, their longest current winning streak over an opponent.
- The Cavs shot 42-81 (.519) from the floor and for the seventh time this year, the Cavs eclipsed the century mark in scoring.
- The Cavs posted their second-highest assist total this season with 30 assists on 42 made field goals.
- The Cleveland defense put together its best performance of the season as it held its opponent to season-lows in points (74), field goals made (29), field goal percentage (.363) and assists (14). It was the second straight game the Cavaliers held their opponent to .400 or less shooting from the field. They also recorded a season-high in steals with 14 and scored 25 points off of 18 Magic turnovers.
- On the glass, the Wine and Gold held a 44-40 advantage over Orlando. The team moves to 6-2 when it wins the battle on the boards. Cleveland also had a 21-6 edge in fast break points.
- LeBron James scored a season-high 16 first quarter points en route to 29 points, a season-high tying 11 assists, four rebounds and three steals in 31 minutes. James connected on 9-17 (.529) shots from the field, 2-4 (.500) from behind the arc and 9-11 (.818) at the charity stripe. It was his second straight double-double, fourth of the season and 271st of his career.
- In only 21 minutes of action, Anderson Varejao continued his solid play of late with 14 points on 7-9 (.777) shooting, six boards, two assists and a pair of blocks. Varejao is now averaging 15.0 points on 27-44 (.614) shooting from the floor, 9.5 boards, 1.0 blocks and 1.0 steals over his last four outings.
- With his 10th rebound of the night, Tristan Thompson surpassed 2,000 career rebounds. He finished the night by going 4-8 (.500) from the floor for nine points, a team-high 11 rebounds (six offensive) and a pair of blocks in 22 minutes.
- Kevin Love chalked up 12 points, eight rebounds, a season-high tying five assists and two steals in 32 minutes.
- Kyrie Irving went 5-9 (.555) from the field and added 12 points, four assists and a season and game-high tying four steals with zero turnovers in 31 minutes. It was the 7th time this year that Irving has had no more than one turnover this season and the third time with zero miscues.