This is the longest Cavs losing streak since the team lost 15 straight early in the 2002-03 season before LeBron James arrived.
Mary Schmitt Boyer / Plain Dealer Reporter
INDIANAPOLIS — Daniel Gibson was having a little trouble Friday night at Conseco Fieldhouse.
After he scored just four points in a 108-99 loss that extended the Cleveland Cavaliers' losing streak to 10 games, he was trying to tell reporters that he and his teammates continued to remain optimistic.
"I forget the saying," he said. "I was trying to test it out the other day about seeing the glass half ... full, or something like that."
He can be excused. After all, he has never in his life lost 10 straight of anything. This is the longest Cavs losing streak since the team lost 15 straight early in the 2002-03 season before LeBron James arrived.
But Gibson is right. The Cavs remain relatively upbeat, considering. Friday's showing wasn't as strong as Wednesday's at Miami, but the Cavs were hampered by injuries and foul trouble.
Guard Mike Dunleavy and forward James Posey hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Pacers a 53-48 lead at halftime, and Indiana just steadily pulled away in the second half as the Cavs never mounted anything close to a comeback.
"The silver lining is two straight games of us playing hard and competing," coach Byron Scott said as his squad dropped to 7-19. "But our margin of error is kind of small. When we make mistakes, we seem to pay for it."
Like leaving Danny Granger open. The Pacers forward came into the game averaging 29 points in the first two victories over the Cavs this season. He had 30 on Friday, including 4 3-pointers, plus 12 rebounds.
Believe it or not, he and the Pacers were struggling coming into this game. Indiana had lost three straight and six of its previous eight. Granger missed one of those games with a sprained left ankle and went 8-of-27 with a total of 27 points in the other two."I went through a stretch there where I wasn't shooting the ball well," he said. "And, in short, I might say I was coasting a little bit."
All he needed was to see the Cavs walk onto the court and that fixed everything. Cleveland certainly could have used its toughest two defenders, forwards Joey Graham and Leon Powe, both of whom missed the game with leg and finger injuries, respectively.
And it could have used more offense from Gibson, who was coming off a season-high 26-points at Miami. But he clearly was bothered by the length of the Pacers defenders -- from the 6-9 Dunleavy to the 6-8 Granger.
"That's something I'm going to have to watch tape on, because I think that'll be something teams will try to do -- put a longer guy on me," Gibson said. "I'll sit down with coach [Chris] Jent and we'll watch tape and we'll figure out what I need to do to get open out there and get movement out there."
Cavs guard Mo Williams had 22 points and 11 assists, while guard Anthony Parker and forward Antawn Jamison had 17 each. Once again, four of the five starters played at least 35 minutes, with Williams playing 39:31. Foul trouble limited forward Anderson Varejao to 30 minutes. Forward J.J. Hickson made just 2 of 8 shots, but 7 of 10 free throws, in 20 minutes.
"We don't have the equipment right now to get ourselves down and come back," Scott said. "We're playing so hard and with the rotation being cut short, it's hard for those guys to keep playing, 35, 36, 37, 38 minutes. I know that. But it also gives us our best chance to win basketball games. It's a fine line. As long as they continue to play hard like that, we'll break through."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: mschmitt@plaind.com, 216-999-4668