Another loss, another injury: Mo Williams hurt as Cleveland Cavaliers lose 13th straight, 127-99 to Denver

DENVER, Colo. -- Byron Scott had a few words of advice before his team took the floor against the Nuggets on Saturday night at Pepsi Center.

"Don't think about the flight home yet," he said. "Don't think about the day off. We still have a game to play, and I still expect us to come out and compete. If we do that, then the trip back home will be a little bit more pleasurable no matter what the results are. I expect us to come out and play hard."

Good luck with that. The plane could have left at halftime. The Cavs tied a franchise record by giving up 80 points in the first half en route to a 127-99 defeat. They lost every game on this five-game trip and have now lost 13 straight, 23 of 24 and 19 straight on the road to fall to 8-32 overall.

"Too much Denver Nuggets and not enough Cavs," Scott said with a wry smile.

Does it even matter that Ramon Sessions led the Cavs with 21 points, Antawn Jamison added 17 or J.J. Hickson had 13 points and nine rebounds?

Or that Nene had 22 points and Chauncey Billups and Arron Afflalo each had 21 as the Nuggets improved to 23-16?

Didn't think so.

The Cavs, down to eight players after Ryan Hollins left to attend a family funeral, lost Mo Williams five minutes in with a strained left left hip flexor. Perhaps Scott's best option would have been to suit up himself.

"Mo went down and that just ate us up for the rest of the night," Scott said. "The young guys played hard. They really put out a great effort. I thought JJ put out a great effort as well. Playing last night against Utah and then coming in here back-to-back kind of got to him finally. I think the minutes he's been playing finally caught up to him.

"The effort was great. We just played a team with too much fire-power against us, as short-handed as we are right now."

 

Of course, the fact that the Cavs once again declined to play any defense contributed to that. Denver shot 58 percent overall and 62 percent from 3-point range (13-of-21) and had 24 fast-break points. But the Cavs did hold their own in the middle. They were outscored in the paint, 60-54, but only out-rebounded 49-47, and actually outscored the Nuggets on second-chance points, 17-15.

"We fought," Sessions said. "Ain't much more you can ask for with seven guys out there and some guys playing out of position. We're not here to complain or anything. We played hard, Denver was a better team tonight."

The Cavs never seem to respond until they're down by 10. So, naturally, they fell behind, 24-14, with about four minutes left in the first quarter. Then Jamison, who missed his first five shots, hit a pair of the leaning, off-balance baskets he has become known for to start the Cavs on a 7-0 run that brought them back within 24-21.

But more lax defense allowed Denver to close the quarter on a 10-1 run. In numbers that have become all too familiar, the Cavs shot 27 percent in the first quarter, the Nuggets shot 62 percent, 80 percent from 3-point range (4-of-5) and held an 18-10 edge on the boards.

But the Cavs keep topping themselves. Or is that bottoming? The 80 points in the first half was a season high, beating the 73 they gave up at Minnesota on Dec. 4. The Nuggets shot 71 percent from the field, including 85 percent from 3-point range (6-of-7) in the second quarter as the Cavs continue to treat the 3-point line as if it's radioactive.