HEAD COACH STAN VAN GUNDY
(On tonight’s game): “We could’ve played a lot harder. We were not the least bit ready to play when the game began. The first 13 shots they missed, they got nine rebounds. Forget the shooting. We just got totally outcompeted from the beginning of the game on. We got blown out and the game was over at the end of one (quarter).”
(On the Cavs’ three-point shooting tonight): “I understand the threes. But if we didn’t get outrebounded by 14, which there’s no excuse for, then we would have at least gotten a chance to be competitive in the game. We didn’t.”
CARON BUTLER
(On suffering a lopsided loss the night after a lopsided win): “It was tough. (With a) back-to-back, we’re playing against one of the better teams in the league. They were well-rested. They came out trying to make a statement and have their stuff rolling before the playoffs start. They did a good job. They pose a lot of threats for us and put us in a lot of situations. Guys capitalized. J.R. Smith knocked down shots. LeBron (James) was penetrating, rebounding and scoring. With a combination of all those things, they just became overwhelming at times.”
(On LeBron’s court vision): “He’s playing chess out there. He’s keeping everybody off balance. Everybody knows that his gift is to make other guys better and facilitate, but he can score. He puts a lot of pressure on the defense. He draws so much attention. I think guys are buying into the concept, particularly in the second half of the season. (They’re) playing off of him, letting him be great and making them be better.”
HEAD COACH DAVID BLATT
(On playing LeBron James 32 minutes): "We planned on playing him 32 minutes tonight because he didn’t play yesterday. Like many of the players, we wanted him to get a good burn this evening because we’re still a week away from playoff time. Physiologically, it was important for him to feel the court and to get up and down to keep his rhythm and keep his conditioning. I thought he did that well. He played just the minutes that we wanted him to play tonight exactly. Maybe not in the same continuity that we usually would have him play but we just wanted to let him get his burn and get off the court, and he did a great job."
(On becoming the 11th team in NBA history to make 800 three-pointers in a single season): "We’re a team that has players who create three-point shot opportunities for others. We’re not necessarily drawing up plays on every occasion to shoot the three. We do have players that get downhill. We’ve got drive and kick players. We’ve got floor spacers that are recognizable and accessible to guys that will get them the ball. A good three is a lot better than a long two, so we shoot them. Tonight, we made 17. (Yesterday) against Boston, we were 3 for 22 but that’s not the norm. I think tonight wasn’t quite the norm but it was a little closer to our normal game than yesterday’s certainly. We want to shoot the three when we got a good look. We got guys that can shoot them and make them…It’s kind of a credit to the type of players that we have. We got guys that create those situations for others and we got guys that can put it in the basket, so if it’s an accomplishment then it’s a team accomplishment."
LEBRON JAMES
(On having everyone back on the court): “It was very good. I’m very excited and happy about our rhythm tonight. That’s the only thing you kind of fear when guys sit out. But tonight, it was like we didn’t take games off at all and it was great to have that rhythm tonight versus a very offensively powerful team.”
(On the importance of resting guys): “We want to be healthy going into the postseason. If he (Kyrie Irving) has something that’s nagging him right now – postseason starts this weekend. So he has a week or less than to get that feeling as close to 100% as possible. Obviously no one can get to 100%, we all have nagging injuries, but you want to try to feel as good as you can going into the postseason, that’s all that matters.”
(On getting off to a good start tonight): “We played some good basketball. We want to try to keep our rhythm – the rhythm that we had before guys went out – to work our offense, communicate defensively and see where it takes us and have it be some good basketball.”
J.R. SMITH
(On being playoff ready): “We’re very playoff ready, I think. We’re just polishing up on some things that we need done to have good offense and on defense as well. I think these (last) two games can’t do anything but make us better. We have one game left and hopefully we’ll get all the kinks out and be ready.”
(On three pointers becoming a weapon for the playoffs): “Yeah, because especially with the team we have it’s almost like ‘pick your poison’. They let us get downhill, penetrate – that’s really the type of basketball we want to play. Finish at the rim, we have two of the best finishers to play the game so the three ball is really the thing that they’re going to have to give up. They have to hope we miss it, and we have to hope we make it so it’s going to be tougher.”
KEVIN LOVE
(On being playoff ready): “I think it was a good test for us, they’re a physical team. We played hard and got off to a good start – something that we wanted to do. J.R. absolutely shot lights out and LeBron had the triple-double so we felt we played well tonight. We need to be sharp on Wednesday and then start locking it in.”
(On wanting to fast forward to the playoffs): “You have to respect the process, I think. I believe that we have to get through this next game and then start the process of the whole deal. With this being my first time through it, you just have to respect the process.”