Cavs, Magic coaches both are unhappy

Associated Press

ORLANDO, FLA.

Byron Scott was angry about losing to the Orlando Magic — and in his opinion, three other guys.

Dwight Howard had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Jameer Nelson scored 20 points, and the Magic beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 111-100 on Friday night for their sixth win in seven games.

Cleveland has lost six of its last eight. The Cavs trailed by double digits for most of the game, but that wasn’t what had their coach upset.

“It’s hard when you’re playing against eight people,” Scott said. “There are five white jerseys and three with stripes. It’s hard to play against all of them out there.

“I know there’s going to be some bad calls. That’s part of the game, they’re human. But not for 48 minutes. When you ask them a question about certain calls, it’s ‘I really don’t know. I can’t guess. I really don’t know.”’

And Scott’s response to that?

“Get another job!”

Magic coach Stan Van Gundy, whose team entered the game giving up the second-fewest points in the NBA, wasn’t satisfied with its defensive effort. Orlando shot 55.6 percent, but the Magic couldn’t put away the game until the final minutes because of defensive lapses.

“We were terrible defensively, absolutely terrible,” Van Gundy said. “It’s the same old thing with us right now. When the scoring is easy, we won’t guard and that’s why we can’t put games away.”

The good news for the Magic was the fact they got some rhythm from beyond the 3-point line. Quentin Richardson hit four straight 3-pointers in the second quarter on his way to 14 points. J.J. Redick hit 3 of 6 from behind the line and had 15 points while subbing for injured Vince Carter for the second straight game. Overall, Orlando hit 14-of-31 shots from 3-point land.

“Guys might have felt like there was a lid on the basket for a while this season, but it’s coming off,” said Nelson, who had a pair of 3-pointers while hitting 9 of 13 shots.

Antawn Jamison came off the bench to score 22 points and Mo Williams contributed 20 for the Cavaliers, who fell behind by 12 early in the second quarter and couldn’t get the deficit under 10 the rest of the game.