Cleveland Cavaliers coach Byron Scott blamed the officials after Cavaliers 111-100 loss at Orlando. Magic center Dwight Howard attempted 24 of the Magic's 28 free throws.
Orlando, Fla. -- Cavaliers coach Byron Scott made it clear where to place the blame for Friday night's 111-100 loss to the Orlando Magic -- and it wasn't in his locker room.
"I thought our guys really competed tonight, I really did," he said after the Cavs dropped to 6-9. "I thought we played hard for the second straight game, and that's a good sign. That's something I was very proud to see our guys never give up.
"But it's hard when you're playing against eight people. That makes it a lot tougher. I'm just saying. There's five white jerseys and three with stripes. It's hard to play against all of them out there."
Scott thought Antawn Jamison was fouled a couple of times with no calls, and Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson each earned technical fouls for voicing their opinions to the referees in the second half.
The officials called 25 fouls on the Cavs and 20 on the Magic. Cleveland shot 20 free throws, while Orlando shot 28, 24 of them by Dwight Howard, who tied his career high for free throws attempted and finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
But it wasn't the numbers that upset Scott. It was more the tone of the evening as set by referees Ed Malloy, Bennie Adams, Kevin Fehr.
"Just the fact that when you asked them a question about certain calls, it was 'I really don't know.' Or 'I can't guess. I really don't know,' " Scott said. "Get another job. I just don't understand it. Our guys fought and played hard. I know there's going to be some bad calls. I understand that's a part of the game. They are human. But not for 48 minutes. That's all I'm saying.
"They're going to miss calls, but they can't miss them all night long. Especially on one end."
Asked about the fine he's sure to incur from the NBA for those comments, Scott flashed a wry smile and said, "My checkbook's OK."
Then he added, "I truly feel we didn't get a fair shake tonight in the game."
Actually, after spotting the Magic a 10-point lead in the first quarter, the teams played about even the rest of the way. The difficult stretch came in the second quarter. After the Cavs closed to within 32-27, the Magic went on a 16-4 run that included four 3-pointers, two of them by Quentin Richardson.
That was a theme that played over and over again throughout the game. Every time Cleveland seemed poised to make a run, Orlando thwarted it with one of its 14 3-pointers.
"When they're knocking down that 3-ball, they're a tough team to beat," said Daniel Gibson.
After Howard scored 12 points in the first quarter in spite of some physical defense by Anderson Varejao, the Cavs decided to foul him before he could get to the basket. Howard wound up making 13 free throws, just about matching his season average of 53.5 percent. But once the Magic took a 62-49 lead at halftime, while hitting 55 percent from 3-point range (11-of-20), the game was essentially over.
Jamison finished with a season-high 22 points, while Williams added 20 points and eight assists. After one strip by Rashard Lewis knocked Williams down early in the third quarter, he sat on his butt under the Cavs basket and watched the Magic fastbreak the other way.