Cleveland Cavaliers' Coach Byron Scott Frustrated By Injuries

When your NBA team is 4-14, it’s easy to go to the stats and see why.

But in the case of the Cleveland Cavaliers, it can be downright perplexing at times.

The Cavaliers had totaled more offensive rebounds than the opponent in all but one of its games

On Monday, the Cavaliers lost to the Detroit Pistons 88-79. The Cavs shot a season low 33.7 percent from the floor and were 3-of-20 in three-pointers. It’s not hard to see why the team has been struggling.

“We played hard,” said coach Byron Scott. “We obviously could not score enough points but defensively I thought we did a heck of a job; especially in the first half but the second half not so much. In the second half we did not fold when we had a chance to. We kept fighting but we just did not have enough offensive firepower to get the job done tonight.”

It also didn’t help that Dion Waiters, the league’s second-highest scoring rookie at 15.2 points per game, was not at the game because of a left ankle sprain. And Kyrie Irving has been sidelined eight straight games with a fractured finger.

“To be honest I do not think you can make up for it,” Scott said.

Cleveland guard Daniel Gibson admitted that the injured players have had a negative impact.

“There is definitely an assessment period that has to go on when you insert a new guy into the starting lineup,” Gibson said. “I do not want to make any excuses. I just think we did not come out with the right focus and we did not play the way we needed to play in order to keep the game close and try to pull one out at the end.”