Cavaliers stumble late against Pistons: Postgame quotes and reactions

Was this a better game than the one against the Indiana Pacers? The Cavaliers lost both games. But in this one, they didn't blow a 20 point lead. They remained competitive throughout the game, but made a few mistakes down the stretch. Here's what people had to say after the game.

Byron Scott:

Coach Scott intentionally fouled (or rather, had this team intentionally foul) Andre Drummond and put him at the free throw line. Drummond is a 34% free throw shooter on the season, but knocked down 9 of 17 freebies on Wednesday night. Here's Byron's comments on the strategy that backfired.

"I was thinking about it as of this morning, knowing what he was shooting from the free throw line. I figured if we had a nice tight game and they were playing pretty well offensively, we would try and mix it up. We would throw a little bit of a wrinkle at him and hope that he would shoot his percentage. The two big ones that he missed they get an offensive rebound and score and then they get the offensive rebound again and get another score. It was something that we just cannot allow to happen. We know that he (Drummond) is shooting thirty-four percent from the free throw line, but tonight he made them."

You can't really blame him for that.

Dion Waiters came back last night, but only played 15 minutes. I guess he was okay.

"I thought he was okay. Nothing special, but I thought he was okay...The plan was to get him about fifteen minutes of playing time. It will probably go up starting Friday and then Sunday."

Tristan Thompson made a boneheaded mistake late in the game. He fouled Drummond inside 2 minutes, but Drummond had already passed the ball. That means the Pistons got 2 free throws and the ball. It was costly.

"We are trying to yell ‘foul the guy with the ball.' Second year player mistake...He felt that he had the ball, which he did get the rebound. He passed it, they took three or four dribbles and then he fouled him. He was thinking right, it was just way too late."

Kyrie Irving:

"We gave ourselves a chance to win. I myself had two costly turnovers. Our effort was good, but we just didn't come out with the win."

Insightful.

Tristan Thompson:

And here's Tristan's take on his mistake at the end of the game.

"(Andre) Drummond got the rebound, so I tried to foul him right away, but they called it after he passed it. After two minutes if you foul, they get two shots and the ball back. I guess it's my fault, but I just have to keep playing."

Just a mistake from a young player. I'm not concerned.

You can read all of the postgame quotes over at Cavs.com.