Mo Williams is embracing the Cavaliers' unity so fully that he told Byron Scott to keep him out of the fourth quarter of Tuesday's game against the Nets when he was shooting just 1-for-12.
View full sizeRamon Sessions forces the Nets' Anthony Morrow into a foul during this first-half drive Wednesday night.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- With a little more than four minutes left in Tuesday's game at New Jersey, point guard Mo Williams left the game with his Cavaliers trailing. The starting point guard had contributed little for Cleveland, hitting just 1-of-12 attempts for two lonely points.
Williams saw his teammates surging, led by his backup and good friend, Ramon Sessions. He watched the Cavaliers take the lead on a Sessions 3-pointer and made a decision.
"Coach, let those guys play," Williams told Byron Scott.
And so Scott did. And he loved the reminder that one of the team's leaders has truly embraced the "All For One, One For All," slogan of the team.
"They were playing really well," Williams explained before Wednesday's rematch at The Q. "I was having an off night and [Sessions] did what backup guards are supposed to do. It was perfect. He came in and played really well, picked up a lot of slack.
"Obviously, if he would have struggled and not played so well, I would have had to go in and just work a little magic down the stretch."
Scott focused more on Williams' unselfishness than on his 8 percent shooting for one game.
"That to me shows that it's all about 'we' and not about 'me,'" Scott said. "That, coming from one of your leaders, one of your veteran guys, was very important."
It helps that Sessions and Williams are very close, stemming from time they played together in Milwaukee. The two often spend down time together in Cleveland, and Sessions has called Williams his best friend.
"Yeah, that does help," Williams admitted. "But at the same time, I would have done it anyway. That's just the way you're supposed to play the game."
Sessions had 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting in the Cavaliers' 93-91 victory, and he combined with fellow guards Daniel Gibson and Anthony Parker for a fourth-quarter attack that secured the outcome.
For Williams, the final score was most important, and neither he nor Scott is worried about one off night.
"I haven't looked at an individual statistics sheet this year," Williams said. "I don't care about that. All I care about are wins and losses. Especially in the position we are, we're judged by wins. Nobody cares who leads us in scoring or how many assists you're averaging or trying to make the All-Star team. Doesn't really matter. All that matters is we get a win."
Fourth-quarter freshness: The Cavaliers have been winning the battle of the fourth quarter, and Scott will take the praise for the way he's focused on conditioning.
"Of course, I'll take all the credit in the world for that," Scott joked.
In five of seven games before Wednesday, the Cavaliers have outscored opponents 27.9 to 24.4 points. In three wins after starting the season 1-3, the Cavaliers have outscored opponents, 105-84.
Nets coach Avery Johnson said his team was outplayed both mentally and physically in Tuesday's loss.
"We talked about from Day One, my main message to our guys in our meeting before training camp started is we will not lose one game this year because the other team is in better shape than us," Scott said. "I think it's been pretty obvious in the fourth quarter that we seem to be the fresher team.
"Just like I had to tell them one day in practice, there is a method to my madness, you just have to trust me and have faith in what I'm doing. You'll see it probably in March, but just trust me. And they have."
Quick dribbles: The Cavaliers had a quick turnaround at The Q to lay down the basketball court over the ice as the Monsters had a day game. ... The Cavaliers earned a 8.0 household rating in Cleveland-Akron on Tuesday night on Fox Sports Ohio, which means about 121,660 households were watching the New Jersey game.