Cavaliers revert to losing ways

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

They carried on like kids and joked about spraying champagne in the locker room. Maybe some bubbly would have been appropriate.

It’s been a long time between road wins for the Washington Wizards.

Nick Young scored 31 points and rookie John Wall had 19 points and 14 assists as the Wizards snapped their 25-game road winless streak with a 115-100 win Sunday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who reverted to their losing ways one game after ending their record 26-game skid.

The Wizards opened a 25-point lead in the third quarter, survived a frantic Cleveland comeback and got their first road win since April 9 at Boston. Back then, LeBron James was still winning games for the Cavs and Wall was enrolled at Kentucky.

“It’s like Christmas,” Wall said. “This was big for us.”

Washington finished four losses shy of matching the league’s record road losing streak to start a season, 29 in a row by the 1992-93 Dallas Mavericks.

If it was going to end, this was the place for the Wizards to do it.

The Cavs have the league’s worst record and a habit of sleepwalking through games.

The Wizards caught them napping.

“I’m still trying to figure them out because to me that was ridiculous,” Cavs coach Byron Scott said of his sorry squad, which has lost 37 of 39. “I hope they don’t have any excuses. Just tell the truth. There has to be a sense of urgency every single night.”

Antawn Jamison, facing his former team, scored 21 and J.J. Hickson added 16 and 13 rebounds for the Cavs, who stopped their losing streak Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers but failed to post back-to-back wins for just the second time this season.

Scott wasn’t happy with his club’s early effort and he let them know it during a timeout. Afterward, he was at a loss to explain his team’s lethargy.

“It’s disappointing,” he said. “Playing hard should not be a skill. It’s your job.”