'Embarrassing effort' leaves Cavs frustrated

The lowly Hawks surprised Cleveland with a 100-94 win.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- In every NBA season there are always a few unexpected bumps. The Cavaliers have banged into a big one.
Al Harrington scored 20 points, Tyronn Lue had a season-high 19 and the Atlanta Hawks controlled Cleveland from start to finish and won their second road game, surprising the sluggish Cavaliers 100-94 on Tuesday night.
"We're in a funk," said Cavs forward LeBron James, who scored 39 points but didn't get enough help. "We have to find a way to tighten the screws."
Cavaliers first-year coach Mike Brown is ready to bring down the hammer.
"They outplayed us. They outcoached us," said Brown, running out of patience with his erratic team. "We did not give effort. We did not concentrate on anything. From an effort standpoint, this is embarrassing."
Strong game
Joe Johnson added 18 for the Hawks, who came in an NBA-worst 3-16 overall and only 1-10 outside Atlanta, but followed up their win on Saturday over the defending champion San Antonio Spurs with another nice effort.
After building an 87-74 lead on Harrington's free throw, the Hawks didn't score a field goal over the final 7:26, getting their final 13 points at the line as Cleveland was forced to foul to try to get back into it.
"It's a carry over from last game," Johnson said. "We felt like if we could beat the Spurs we could beat just about anybody in the league. Guys came out with a certain attitude and all I know is that everybody had a different demeanor about themselves. Everybody kind of had a little swagger, and we came out and played hard."
Struggling
The Cavaliers have dropped seven of nine following a 9-2 start. Cleveland was without injured All-Star center Zydrunas Ilgauskas (sprained knee), but besides missing their 7-foot-3 big man, the Cavs' biggest shortage was on defense as Atlanta got too many easy shots and went to the free-throw line 41 times to 27 for Cleveland.
"They did what they wanted to do," Brown said. "I can't explain it. There is no excuse."
Cleveland closed within 96-91 on Donyell Marshall's 3-pointer with 14.2 seconds to go, but Josh Childress and Josh Smith each made two free throws as the Hawks snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Cavs.
James, who scored a season-high 52 at Milwaukee on Saturday, has scored at least 30 points in six straight games. However, the Cavaliers are 1-5 in that stretch and are getting worse, not better.
"I don't want to say I'm happy, but I'm glad it's happening to us now," said James, averaging 36.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists in six games in December. "We're OK."
Poor defense
Damon Jones provided an offensive spark but was a defensive liability off Cleveland's bench in the third quarter as the 6-foot Lue drove past him at will, scoring on layups or short pull-up jumpers.
Lue came off the bench and scored 11 points in the third period on 4-of-5 shooting as the Hawks entered the fourth leading 78-68.
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