(On if the starters were out of gas): "I don’t think so, but it seems like we lost the momentum."
(On if the team had too many transition turnovers): "We were better on the break, but there were a lot of unnecessary turnovers. Just ball-handling turnovers, mistakes that a good half of them are avoidable and you need those possessions. You really do. They’re momentum breakers or momentum makers for the other team."
(On DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and Lou Williams): “Those are three pretty good guards and Toronto has been playing great basketball so far this year. Those guys have been consistently good. I thought Shawn Marion did a terrific job on DeRozan in the first half. He held him to three points, but other than that, we never really got our hands around the other guys.”
(On the team’s focus on rebounding): “When you’re struggling, you’re looking for every single way to gain possessions and to show some more grit, so we did emphasize the rebounding aspect. It’s kind of funny that you have a game where you have more assists, you have more rebounds, you have more fast break points, you have more paint points, significantly all four of those categories and you lose by 17. But a guy comes off the bench and scores 36 (points). They shoot 42 free throws and make 38, but a lot of those free throws were just mental mistakes on our part.”
(On if he remembers losses like these with other teams): “No, I can’t. I haven’t had a losing record in my career and will not have one here.”
(On the difference in the game after the first quarter): “He (Lou Williams) changed the game when he came into the game. We lost the tempo that we had. I thought we came out and we played defense, we shared the ball, we moved the ball, we moved bodies and I don’t know what happened.”
(On taking more jumpers versus getting to the basket): “That’s easy to point out. We also got to the basket and missed shots as well. We have to do a better job of just getting stops, as a team. We’re a very fragile team right now. We were a fragile team from the beginning. Any little adversity hits us, we just shell up. That’s something that will come with experience. This is not even the lowest that it’s going to get for us. I told a few guys, the lowest it can get is being up 17 in the fourth quarter of game two of the Finals and losing. It can get that low. Or being up 2-1 and going to game four and losing three straight in the Finals. That’s very low. I’m very optimistic. I’m very positive, more positive than I thought I would be right now. So you look at what we did wrong, things we did well and get ready for Orlando coming here on Monday.”
(On what contributed to the loss): “They started making shots down the run. It could go both ways, we weren’t making shots and they were hitting shots. We were trying to contest them the best we can but we got a lot of great looks tonight. That first quarter was probably our best first quarter of the year so far. That’s a positive from the game. We just have to have a consistent energy and just stay positive the whole game.”
(On difficulty of stopping the momentum from the other team): “It’s tough. It’s definitely tough. You have great players on the other end. They’re number one in the East right now and they showed why tonight – a true team. They were playing team basketball and they won. They beat us tonight, fair and square. They had a great second, third and fourth quarter and closed us out like true veterans. We’re still learning, as a team, how to win and how to have that consistent energy for four quarters.”
(On the bench’s lack of performance): “We just have to stay positive. We have to keep giving them confidence. I have confidence in them just to come in. It’ll get rolling, it’ll get going. We have guys that are talented on our bench and we just have to stay with them. I’m staying with them. I know the coaching staff is going to continue to believe in them and try to keep feeding them energy when they come off the bench. They just have to be ready to play and ready to make a difference. They don’t have the luxury of being a starter and kind of just waiting for that rhythm. They just have to come in, play both ends as hard as they can and live with the results.”
(On his team’s mentality tonight): “We knew that train (the Cavs’ offense in the first quarter) was going to come out of the gate really roaring and it did, and we didn’t give in. We sustained our focus and defensive disposition and just kept on playing. That’s what you’ve got to do against a good team like that. Their back is against the wall. They’ve lost three straight, so you know they’re going to come in upset. Our guys were smart enough to withstand their onslaught at the beginning.”
(On Lou Williams’ career night): “I’m surprised that 36 is a career high because he’s a longtime scorer. That’s what he’s done his whole career. He understands how to attack people’s feet, get into their body and initiate the contact. He does a great job with that. But most of all, I’m impressed with Lou’s defense. He had a reputation of being a scorer but now he’s doing a much better job defensively for us, which allows him to stay in and guard guys like (Dion) Waiters and (Kyrie) Irving.”
(On his team tonight): “We stayed in attack mode and we stuck with our principles. Our bench, mainly Lou, came in and did an incredible job of getting us going. I think we have a group of guys that just wants to win games no matter who’s doing it or how we’re doing it. That’s how we’re being successful as a team.”
(On coming back from their first quarter deficit): “We just had to stay aggressive. Early on in the game, we weren’t aggressive. We missed some shots. We kept attacking and we didn’t get satisfied with driving to the lane. We just kept going in there.”
(On his contribution tonight): “I just wanted to come in and play my style of basketball – to come in with a lot of energy and create a spark. I think Cleveland did a great job of just getting off to a good start, but we just needed a little spark. I think I was able to create that.”
(On his record night): “I think after about 15 points (my teammates) probably started looking for me, but that’s how the game goes. Whoever has the hot hand, that’s who we look for.”
(On Toronto’s mindset): “We came in focused. We’re pretty angry as it is. We pay attention to what people are saying and we want to be a group that’s taken very seriously. We’ve worked hard to gain (the public’s) respect. It’s going to take some time, so we go into every game with a chip on our shoulder.”
CAVALIERS NOTES:
- Cleveland bested Toronto 46-34 on the glass. It was third time this season the Cavs have outrebounded an opponent by 10 or more boards.
- The Wine and Gold dished out 24 assists. They have now recorded 20 or more assists in seven contests.
- The Cavaliers held a 52-34 edge over the Raptors in points in the paint. It was the fifth time this year they have registered 50 or more points in the paint.
- Kyrie Irving shot 7-14 (.500) from the field and made 2-5 (.400) triples to score 21 points, while adding six assists, three rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 37 minutes. He has scored at least 20 points in a career-best seven straight games, averaging 23.1 points, 5.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds in that span. Irving also surpassed 4,000 points for his career after his performance tonight.
- Kevin Love had a team and season-high 23 points on 8-16 (.500) shooting, seven rebounds and a steal in 34 minutes of play. It was Love’s fourth outing of 20 or more points this season.
- LeBron James went 6-12 (.500) from the floor for 15 points and notched a game-high 10 assists in 37 minutes for his 3rd double-double of the year.
- Anderson Varejao made 5-9 (.556) shots and went for 13 points, a game and season-high 12 rebounds and three assists in 29 minutes of action. It was his second double-double in the last three games, as he is averaging 15.3 points and 10.7 rebounds over that stretch.
- Tristan Thompson came off the bench to record 11 points, seven boards and a block in 20 minutes.