Final
Cavs try to start new win streak, host Wizards
Feb 23, 2014 - 3:06 PMVideo
The Cavaliers had a six-game winning streak stopped with Friday's 98-91 defeat at Toronto, as Luol Deng delivered 21 points and 11 rebounds in a losing cause. All-Star Game MVP Kyrie Irving had 17 points and nine assists, while Tristan Thompson scored 13 points.
Cleveland shot 39 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 15 times.
"You've got to give Toronto credit," said Cleveland head coach Mike Brown. "They came out in the second half and played hard. Their big kid (Jonas) Valanciunas was big. Give our guys credit, they came back and made some shots. The deficit was just too big for them to come back from."
Spencer Hawes scored seven points with 10 boards in his Cleveland debut after coming over in a deadline deal from Philadelphia.
The Cavs are outscoring opponents 102.0 to 94.3 in their last seven games and will also host the Raptors on this brief stay at Quicken Loans Arena, where they have a 14-13 record.
Cleveland has won three in a row at the Q.
In injury news for the Cavs, guards C.J. Miles (ankle) and Dion Waiters (knee) are expected to miss Sunday's game.
Washington has won back-to-back games since losing three straight and five of its six previous contests.
In Saturday's 94-93 victory versus New Orleans in D.C., Nene poured in 30 points and won the game on a dunk at the buzzer. With the Wizards trailing by one, All-Star guard John Wall drove the lane and fed Nene with a pass inside. The big man jammed it home with one hand for the win with 0.3 seconds left.
Nene is averaging 18.8 points in his last six games.
"Give credit to our bigs," said Wall. "They really stepped up. We give them credit for winning this game. We all locked down defensively as a team and made the big plays."
Marcin Gortat had 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Wall contributed 10 points and 12 assists for Washington, which is fifth in the East standings.
The Wizards have a 13-14 road ledger, but are 10-6 in the last 16 games away from the Verizon Center. Wall is averaging 18.3 points in the past 16 road games.
Washington has lost two of three meetings with Cleveland this season. The Cavs have won six of the last eight games in this series and are 11-4 in the past 15 meetings at the Q.
Irving is averaging 30.7 ppg against the Wizards in 2013-14.
Feb 23 8:20 PM- WASHINGTON: 78
CLEVELAND: 72
End of 3rd
Feb 23 7:47 PM - WASHINGTON: 58
CLEVELAND: 52
Halftime
Feb 23 7:04 PM - WASHINGTON: 30
CLEVELAND: 27
End of 1st
Feb 23 6:36 PM - WASHINGTON: 0
CLEVELAND: 0
1st Quarter - 11:44
Feb 23 6:12 PM
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