2013-14 Game quotes

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Orlando Magic: Quotes and reactions from coaches and players

The Cavaliers won their third straight game on Friday night. Here's what the team had to say after the victory.

By Conrad Kaczmarek Dec 14, 2013, 11:34am CST

We're going streaking! The Cavaliers defeated the Orlando Magic to notch their third win in a row and will take their winning streak on the road to play the Miami Heat on Saturday night. The Cavs' played well in their 109-100 win against Victor Oladipo and the Magic. Check out what the team had to say after their win.

Dion Waiters

Dion scored 21 points in this game and carried the team for much of the fourth quarter. It was impressive because he was able to shake off a rough first half and come out to play the right way later in the game.

"I had to turn it up. I had to be aggressive. I was frustrated in the first half. I let it get the best of me in the first half. I just told myself in the second half to come out and be aggressive."

It's really nice to get a look into Dion's inner thought process. I think a lot of people just consider Dion to be an instinctive player, but it's good to know that he's really thinking about what he needs to do throughout the game.

"In the first half I had a couple of them (shots) go in and out on me. I put my head down. It was a frustrating half but I gathered myself. In the second half I had to get my thoughts together and go back out there and perform."

Perhaps the best thing that Dion did in this game was when he came to Anderson Varejao's defense. Andrew Nicholson took a cheap shot on Varejao when the game was all but over and Dion was not pleased. He stormed over to Nicholson and had to be held back.

"That is Andy. He is my big brother. I learned a lot from him and a person like that you just have to have his back no matter what. That is just everybody on the team. If anybody else was in that situation I would have done the same thing. It is not about being the toughest guy on the team. It is about having your teammate's back and sticking up for one another. At the end of the day, we are all we have. I think that was a cheap shot and I didn't really see it, but he could have hurt himself worse than what he did."

For a team that supposedly had chemistry issues in the locker room, it seems like they're starting to figure things out as a unit. They look like a team sometimes. It's a little bizarre, but I like it.

Kyrie Irving

Kyrie had himself a nice game, scoring 31 points. He's looking a lot more like the Kyrie Irving that we got used to seeing in his first two seasons. He continues to talk about how he needs to be a leader and he seems to think that the team is starting to develop an identity.

"I think we are starting to develop our identity as a gritty team especially when things are not going our way offensively. We are not letting those types of things stop us. We are playing with continuity and some flow and we look good out there. It feels good to be out there with one another and we are playing for one another on every single possession."

Anderson Varejao

Andy talked about what Matthew Dellavedova brings to the team.

"He's like our pit bull. He gets into the game and he's like grrrrrrrrr"

Well said, Andy.

Andrew Nicholson

Cavs.com only has a few quotes from Nicholson, so this might be lacking some context. But here's what he said about the flagrant foul he committed on Varejao.

"I didn't mean to hurt him; I didn't try to hurt him. I didn't think I pushed him that hard. But it's part of the game."

"I've been working out and so I have a different mentality, different approach to the game. So focus on the defensive end and rebounding."

I believe that Nicholson wasn't trying to hurt Varejao (and it seems that Varejao is going to be okay, so it's not a big deal). But it's total bull that "it's part of the game." Nothing about shoving a guy a full second after he makes a wide open layup is "part of the game." Get that weak stuff outta here.

Nicholson was ejected from the game (although the game was basically over anyway) and will probably get fined by the NBA. I don't think he needs to be suspended. It wasn't *that* malicious, but it was still a punk move.

You can see more quotes from the Cavs and Magic over at Cavs.com.