Cavaliers say Sunday's loss to Timberwolves hurts more than any other this season.
This season has been filled with lows for the Cavaliers. There have been losses by enormous margins, and losses where they were oh-so close. There have been 10 losses in a row and losses that were valued only for their learning experience.
Anthony Parker scored a season-high 21 points but it was not enough to prevent the Cavaliers from losing to Corey Brewer and the Timberwolves Sunday night.Sunday's 98-97 loss to Minnesota at The Q topped them all.
Ahead by 10 points with 5:24 remaining, and still leading by three with 3:26 left, it was, coach Byron Scott said, as if the 8-22 Cavaliers suddenly forgot there was an alternative to losing.
"It was almost (like we were) scared to win the game," Scott said. "And when you want to win the game, you've got to go and take it. That's the bottom line."
In the final minute, the Cavaliers turned the ball over twice, once on a shot-clock violation and again when point guard Mo Williams lost the handle on the ball as he attempted to dribble it behind his back.
Antawn Jamison scored what seemed to be a game-winner with 10.6 seconds remaining when he drove past Minnesota forward Michael Beasley to sink a layup.
But then Beasley knocked in a driving layup of his own when the left-hander unexpectedly went to his right and sank a basket over Jamison with 5.9 seconds remaining.
Jamison had one more attempt at a game-winner, but his shot against Beasley ricocheted off the rim. Jamison said that Beasley told him he fouled the Cavaliers forward on the final shot, but no call was made.
Still, the fact that the outcome required a last-second shot was the part that led to Scott remarking, "this one hurts a little bit more than almost any other one this season."
"We should have never been in that situation," Jamison said. "They did a great job as far as hitting some tough shots, and we kind of got discombobulated a little bit down the stretch, not getting quality shots, turning the ball over."
They allowed Timberwolves center Kevin Love to finally get into the game, too. Love had two points and hadn't hit a field goal until 9:09 remained in the game, but finished with 16 points and 18 rebounds after a fourth-quarter explosion.
oint guard Luke Ridnour, too, hit baskets when the Wolves needed them, including back-to-back 3-pointers that cut the Cavaliers' lead to 91-90 with 3:50 remaining. Ridnour finished with 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-5 3-pointers.
And in the end, the Cavaliers could not avenge what had been their worst loss of the season to this point -- a 129-95 drubbing by Minnesota on Dec. 4 when the Wolves made 18-of-26 3-pointers (69.2 percent).
"It's a tough game to swallow, this is probably the hardest loss we've had because we handily had the game in control and gave it away," Williams said. "This one probably hurts the most out of all the losses this year."
Out of Minnesota's seven wins in 31 games, two have come against the Cavaliers. Not even Anthony Parker's season-high 21 points or Williams' fifth consecutive double-double (17 points, 11 assists) could help in the end when the Cavaliers seemed to unravel.
"We stopped playing against our opponent and tried to play the clock," said Jawad Williams, who scored nine points on a season-high three 3-pointers.
Said Jamison: "As the game got tighter it seemed like we didn't know who was supposed to take the shots."
Afraid to win, or unsure of how not to lose, the Cavaliers found a way to sink to a new low.
"A game like this, you kind of feel like you let one slip away," Jamison said. "It seems like it's Groundhog Day, but we've got to learn from our mistakes and just try to not let it happen again."