The Cleveland Cavaliers suffered their worst defeat of the 2015–16 National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season so far when they fell 105–76 to the Portland Trail Blazers, but head coach David Blatt stood by the team.
"You know, we're not a bad team all of the sudden. We've done some things so far this year. This was a bad night, plain and simple," Blatt said after the loss, according to ESPN.
"What that means is what we're going to do with it the next day and the next day. That's the important thing," Cleveland's head coach added.
It was a tough defeat since the Cavs lost to a Portland team that played without All-Star point guard Damian Lillard, and which have stayed at the bottom half of the Western Conference standings.
The loss to the Blazers was also the second consecutive for Blatt and the Cavaliers, as they fell in their Christmas Day duel with the Golden State Warriors.
Despite the defeat, the Cavaliers are still the leaders of the Eastern Conference with a 19–9 record, still a game above the second-placed Atlanta Hawks who are at 20–12.
It was an embarrassing loss, but Cleveland star LeBron James, who finished the game with only 12 points, just wants to forget it and said, according to ESPN, "Throw it in the trash. Throw it in the trash."
James also said games like the one last Saturday should be thrown away and must not "linger," as he looks forward for the third game of a four-game Western Conference road trip today, Monday, versus the Phoenix Suns.
In the loss to Portland, returning point guard Kyrie Irving did not play, with James together with prominent big man Kevin Love also getting limited minutes.
After the Suns, the Cavaliers will head to the rockies on Tuesday to take on the Denver Nuggets before heading back home for a two-game home stand that will begin on Saturday.
