Cavs shoot for revenge vs. Wizards
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(SportsNetwork.com) - The Cleveland Cavaliers will try to avenge last week's loss to the Washington Wizards Wednesday night, but the rematch will be at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavs fell to the Wizards in Washington on Friday night, 91-78. It was a season-low in points for LeBron James and company, then the team lost to the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.
That gave Cleveland a four-game losing streak, but the Cavaliers snapped out of it in a big way Monday night with a 106-74 home drubbing of the Orlando Magic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}James, who called his team fragile, had 29 points and 11 assists playing just three quarters versus the Magic. James had 22 points in the first half to help the Cavaliers take an 18-point lead into the break and they went up by as many as 33 in the fourth quarter.
Anderson Varejao added 14 points and Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving each scored 12 for Cleveland, which also snapped a three-game home losing streak.
"A win will always make things feel better," said James, "but we still have a lot of work to do."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Cavaliers kept the Magic under 25 points in all four quarters and twice held them to 16. Cleveland shot 51.9 percent and kept the Magic to 36.3 percent from the floor.
"Your goal should be 22 points or under a quarter (on defense) and we did that," said Cavaliers coach David Blatt. "We made some small adjustments but things were looking pretty good so we didn't need to reinvent the wheel."
Cleveland's win meant avoiding a rare five-game losing streak with James as a member of the team.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The last time the Cavs lost five in a row with James on the roster came during a six-game skid from Nov. 28-Dec. 8, 2007 -- but James missed the last five of that streak with a sprained finger and the team won his first game back.
The Wizards had a two-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday with a home loss to the Atlanta Hawks, 106-102.
John Wall ended with 21 points and 13 assists for the Wizards. Paul Pierce and Bradley Beal tallied 14 and 13 points, respectively, while Marcin Gortat had 12 points and 11 boards.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Turnovers doomed the Wizards on Tuesday. They committed 25 miscues, which led to 28 Hawks points. The biggest offenders were the prized young backcourt of Wall (6) and Beal (7).
"I'm so upset at myself. I'm never seen myself turn the ball over that many times," said Beal, who turned the ball over seven times. "I think everybody wants to just try to force it there and get it there and try to make a play, and sometimes it just doesn't fall in our favor, and it's a domino effect."
Nene missed the Hawks game with a foot injury and his availability for Wednesday is unknown, although head coach Randy Wittman indicated the team didn't think it would be a long-term injury.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Washington's win last week gave it two in a row over the Cavaliers. The two teams have split the previous six meetings in Cleveland.