(On what the team has been consistently doing well over the last two games): "Defensive presence and taking care of the basketball, those two things. We’ve been defending and we’re not giving away opportunities and giving away points. Last game against Washington, someone told me today when I was doing the radio that it was five days ago. I thought it was five months ago. I couldn’t believe it. So five days ago, we turned over the ball 19 times for 24 points. Today we turned over the ball 10 times for seven points. Do the math, it’s a big difference and obviously we’re defending. We’ve defending the last two games as well as we’ve defended the whole season."
(On holding John Wall to six points): "First of all, John Wall is a great basketball player and he’s not an easy guy to stop night after night. John, in the last game, got a lot of fast break points playing good defense himself and taking advantage of turnovers that we had. He made a lot of in-between jump shots in the last game. I thought Kyrie (Irving), once again, did a terrific job and more importantly the team did a really good job swarming and not giving him gaps and lanes to get to the rim or to find a lot of open looks. He’s not a guy you guard with one person only. You gotta guard him with a team effort. I think we only gave up two or four fast break baskets tonight. Obviously a big part of John’s game and Washington’s game is their ability to get out there and attack you in transition and in the open court. So we did a really good job there as well.”
(On LeBron James playing the entire third quarter and starting the fourth): "First of all, he felt good. He felt strong. And I felt we had a chance to knock them out of the box and be able to sit him down and ultimately that’s what happened. He really played great and it was fun to watch."
(On Dion Waiters): "I don’t mind if he takes shots. Dion is a shooter and a scorer and he needs to take shots. What I liked was Dion’s involvement and his intensity on each and every play. He defended extremely well. He took the shots, for the most part, he needed to take. He’s our scorer off the bench and that’s what he needs to do."
(On the defensive pressure): “We definitely wanted to come out with a different focus from what we had in Washington. We kind of owed them one tonight. It was one of those games where we definitely had to get back on track. Obviously we had a great Orlando game, but this was definitely a meaningful game – as well as every game – but this one definitely meant a little bit more.”
(On how to make the other team “feel” you): “By just having a physical mindset. We definitely wanted to set the tone defensively. They were a lot more physical with us in Washington, so we definitely wanted to set a tone early in the game and I think we did that.”
(On if it’s fair to call games against Washington a rivalry): “A rivalry? No…not necessarily. I don’t think we’ve played enough games against each other yet for it to get chippy. We’ve played a lot of chippy games so far in the season and that just comes from everybody wanting to beat us. Their physicality - we definitely have to match every single team’s because we’re getting everybody’s best shot. But for us, it’s just about hitting first and having that ‘hit first’ mentality.”
(On how much better he feels about the team currently): “It hasn’t changed. My feelings haven’t changed. It’s not like one week I’m going to be mad at these guys and the next day I’m going to be okay with them. We’re in the trenches together every single day. That’s what I love most about this team. We get a lot of veteran leadership that keeps everything cool, calm and collected. It really boils down to our veterans. They make my job a lot easier. They keep the game just as it is…and that’s the game. It’s just a game. When you go home and see your family, that’s a totally different life. I don’t bring anything or bad feelings outside this locker room. When we’re in the trenches together, I’m ready to fight and I’m ready to do anything it takes to win.”
(On the high assists and low turnovers): “That’s perfect. We have to continue to do that. We’re very good when we don’t turn the ball over. It gives us an opportunity to set our defense. It gives us an opportunity to get up shots, where we have guys who create their own shots and make shots. It keeps everybody in a good rhythm.”
(On coming out strong tonight versus the last matchup): “We came out aggressive. Like I said, last game they did whatever they wanted to and we showed no resistance. I think from the beginning we were very aggressive with what we wanted to do offensively and defensively and we maintained it for most of the game.”
(On if he feels better about where the team is at now): “Wins help. I think more than that, the way we won. We played basketball the right way. We shared the ball, we defended, we sustained effort for as close to 48 minutes as possible. Still, the start of the thirds is what we have to figure out, and that’s something that will come…but I’m very happy and pleased with the way we played the past two games.”
(On tonight’s game): “(The Cavs) were the more aggressive team tonight. They came out right from the beginning and we turned it over seven times in the first eight minutes or something. When you dig a hole of 15 or 16 points right off the bat against a team like this, you’re going to have trouble.”
(On the Cavs): “When they get out in the open floor, a lot of the times LeBron’s got the ball. He finds people and creates things in the open floor. That’s hard. That’s why it’s important for us that we’ve got to be able to get our defense set. We didn’t do that tonight.”
(On tonight’s game): “We just didn’t do a good job early in the game of keeping them out of transition, mainly with our turnovers. On top of that, we fouled way too much. We establish our identity as a defensive team and we’ve got to do it early. Tonight we turned it over and didn’t get easy opportunities. They got confident and got on the break, and we just pretty much trailed from start to finish. We’ve got to do a better job at the start of games.”
(On the Cavs’ play tonight compared to last Friday): “They’re a more comfortable team at home and you’ve got to expect that. But like I said, we didn’t establish our defensive identity tonight from the jump. We didn’t play with the physicality that was needed on either end of the floor. So we’ve got to look at those things.”
(On tonight’s game): “I think (Cleveland) got up to attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line pretty early. They made some tough shots at times, but our communication defensively wasn’t great like it was in the past. The last two games we lost, we had bad communication – probably the worst we’ve had this season.”
(On the Cavs’ play tonight compared to last Friday): “Every team plays differently at home. They played a different way, and we didn’t move the ball as well as we did when we played them (at home last Friday). We didn’t have the same defensive pressure and intensity that we had when we were at home. That was the biggest difference of this game.”
(On his team’s comeback attempt): “They let us back in the game a couple of times. We got it down to nine. For any team, as long as you stick with it when they’re rolling, then they’re a team that’s capable of missing shots too. Tonight, you give credit to them. They came out and hit us in the mouth first, then we made our run and they countered it back with making their own run. Whenever we got close, they made the big shots and the big plays.”
CAVALIERS NOTES:
- The Cleveland Cavaliers grabbed their second straight win with a 113-87 victory over the Washington Wizards. The Wine and Gold had six players finish in double figures: James (29), Love (21), Irving (18), Waiters (15), Varejao (10), and Thompson (10). Cleveland has won their last two games by a combined 58 points.
- Offensively, the Cavs reached triple digits in scoring for the eighth time this season and are now 7-1 when reaching the century mark. Cleveland also made 38-74 (.514) shots from the floor, which was the second straight game they shot better than .500 from the field and fourth on the season.
- Cleveland connected on 31-38 (.816) free throws on the night and is now 5-1 when attempting 30 or more free throws in a game.
- The Cavaliers also dished out 23 assists and turned the ball over only 10 times, which is tied for the second-fewest this season. The Wine and Gold outscored the Wizards 17-2 on fastbreak points.
- At the defensive end, the Cavs forced 18 turnovers for the second straight night and racked up 13 steals. Cleveland has now had 27 steals combined in its last two games. For the night, the Cavaliers scored 24 points off Washington turnovers, increasing its points off turnovers to a combined 49 points over the last two games. The Wine and Gold also held the Wizards to an opponent season-low 26 rebounds.
- LeBron James notched his third straight double-double and fifth of the season, while recording game-highs in points (29), rebounds (10), assists (8) and steals (3) in 36 minutes. James shot 7-14 (.500) from the field and made a season-high 14 free throws on 17 attempts (.824).
- Kevin Love registered 21 points on 7-10 (.700) shooting, five rebounds and a block in 29 minutes of action. His .700 shooting percentage was his highest mark this season.
- Kyrie Irving drained 3-5 (.600) triples and recorded 18 points, five assists and a game-high tying three steals in 33 minutes. Irving has been solid from behind the arc at home, as he has made 21-36 (.583) in his last seven games at Quicken Loans Arena. Irving also had only one turnover tonight, which is the eighth time this season he has posted one or fewer turnovers in a game.
- Anderson Varejao continued his hot shooting by going a perfect 5-5 from the floor for 10 points and grabbing seven rebounds in 26 minutes. Varejao is now shooting 32-49 (.653) over his last five contests, while averaging 14.0 points and 9.0 rebounds in 27.4 minutes per game in that stretch.
- Dion Waiters chipped in 15 points, six assists and a game-high tying three steals in 30 minutes off the bench.
- Tristan Thompson went a perfect 4-4 from the floor to score 10 points in 30 minutes off the bench.