The Cavs gave up more than 100 points for the fifth straight game, all losses, and the 14th time this season.
View full sizeJ.J. Hickson goes sailing past the basket as Philadelphia's Thaddeus Young has an easy shot at the basket in the second half of Tuesday's 76ers victory. Young scored 26 points and added 11 rebounds off the bench in Philadelphia's 117-97 romp.PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- It's a shocking question for a coach to ask of his team, but no one who has watched the Cavaliers this past week would blame Byron Scott for asking it.
"My question is: 'Can they do it?'" he said after his team dropped to 7-14 with its fifth straight loss on Tuesday night to the Philadelphia 76ers in Wells Fargo Center, 117-97. "Not 'do they want to do it,' but 'can they do it?'
"My answer is I think so because I've seen us do it, so I know we can."
But it has been a long, long time.
In spite of Scott repeatedly preaching about the team's need to rededicate itself on the defensive end, the Cavs gave up more than 100 points for the fifth straight game, all losses, and the 14th time this season. They are 2-12 in those games.
It went south from the get-go on Tuesday as the Sixers registered season-high point totals in the first quarter (35) and the half (66) and were never threatened in the second half.
It's the fifth time this season the Cavs have lost by 20 or more points, and it's the first time they've lost five straight since early in the 2007 season, when they lost six straight from Nov. 28-Dec. 8.
It led to an uncomfortable question to ask a coach, but no one who has watched the Cavs this past week would blame anyone for asking it.
"Have they stopped listening to you?" Scott was asked after the game.
"I feel they hear me," he said. "Now the listening part I don't know. I think I was pretty loud and clear at halftime."
Scott told reporters after the morning shootaround that if he was displeased with his team's start, he might make lineup changes at the start of the second half. He did not, but admitted he came "pretty close" to doing so. Those changes could come Wednesday against Chicago, or perhaps he will wait until Saturday's game at Houston.
He has not hinted at what those might be, but they could involve inserting Antawn Jamison at power forward in place of J.J. Hickson or Daniel Gibson at shooting guard in place of Anthony Parker.
Jamison and Gibson insist that players have not tuned out Scott.
"I'm listening to him," Jamison said. "Guys are listening to him as well. Let's be honest. It's not the coach."
Added Gibson, "We definitely ride with everything Byron tells us. He's in our corner, and we all are behind him. We have to go out there and do it. It's one thing to hear it, and it's one thing to say what you're going to do. You have to actually go out there and put it into play. We have yet to do that."
It's a difficult question to ask a player, but no one who has watched the Cavs play this past week would blame anyone for asking it: Do guys want out?
"I truly hope that's not the case, and I don't believe that's the case," Gibson said. "If you don't want to be here, then go. I'm going to fight tooth and nail, we all want to fight tooth and nail to win these games. I really hope that's not the case, and I don't think it is.
"Things are a little different now, but the culture shouldn't change. Guys should still understand what this organization is about now and that's winning and putting a competitive team out there on the floor. If you're not going to fight with your heart and play with your heart, then you don't need to play at all.
"I really believe that we've got to get back to believing, believing in each other and believing what we're trying to do."