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Cavs' 26th consecutive loss matches all-time professional sports mark

By Paul Levine Feb 10, 2011, 8:04 GMT

Los Angeles - It wasn't enough of an embarrassment that the free-falling Cleveland Cavaliers set the NBA-record for consecutive losses. On Wednesday night, they took another step into professional sports all-time hall of shame.

Reserves Rodney Stuckey scored 22 points, Will Bynum added 17 and the Detroit Pistons extended the Cavaliers' history-making slide to 26 with a 103-94 road victory.

The struggling Pistons (20-33) were thought to be the Cavaliers best shot to end the nearly two-month old drought. However, the visitors were determined not to let that happen.

'We didn't want to be an answer to a trivia question,' Stuckey said. 'We played hard tonight and got the win.'

As a result, Cleveland matched the National Football League's 1976-77 expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers' record for most consecutive defeats by the four major professional sports in North America.

Cavaliers head coach Byron Scott wasn't at a loss for words after the latest loss.

'I'm mad as hell,' he said. 'I can deal with losing, but I find it very hard to deal with when guys don't come out ready to play. That was probably the worst effort we've had in the last month.

'Tonight we took a gigantic step backwards. 'There was no sense of urgency whatsoever. That amazes me when you've lost as many in a row as we have.'

Antawn Jamison scored 22 points, Ramon Sessions had 20 with 12 assists for Cleveland (8-45) which has dropped 36 of its last 37 contests since a Dec. 18 win at New York.

'I ask myself after the game how we could lose 26 in a row, but somehow we managed to do it,' said Cavs forward J.J. Hickson following an 18-point, 15-rebound effort. 'It's a disappointment as a group to know how hard we work in practice and to play the way we play.'

The Cavs will get another shot on Friday against the lowly visiting LA Clippers. If that fails, something has to give when they host the road winless (0-25) Washington Wizards on Saturday.

'The biggest thing now is we have to challenge their pride,' Scott said. 'At some point in time you have to have some pride in what you're doing.'

Elsewhere: LA Clippers 116, New York Knicks 108 Randy Foye scored 17 of his 24 points in the final quarter, Baron Davis had 16 and a season-high 16 assists as Clippers (20-32) stopped a seven-game road slide.

Amar'e Stoudemire scored 23 for the Knicks (26-25), who split the two-game season series.

Washington Wizards 100, Milwaukee Bucks 85 Nick Young scored 26 points, JaVale McGee had 16 with 17 rebounds, and the Wizards (14-37) ended an eight-game skid.

San Antonio Spurs 111, Toronto Raptors 100 DeJuan Blair had 14 of his career-high-tying 28 points in the final quarter along with 11 and the NBA-best Spurs (44-8) improved to 4-1 on their eight-game road trip

Italy's Andrea Bargnani scored 29 in the Raptors' (14-39) 15th loss in 16 contests

Dallas Mavericks 102, Sacramento Kings 100 Jason Terry scored 22 points, J.J. Barea had 15 of his 20 in the final quarter and the visiting Mavericks (37-15) won their 10th in a row.

Samuel Dalembert netted a season-high 20 points, while DeMarcus Cousins had 19 points and 15 rebounds in Sacramento's (12-37) fourth straight loss.

New Jersey Nets 103, New Orleans Hornets 101 (OT) Sasha Vujacic scored a career-high 25 points, Brook Lopez added 20, including the go-ahead free throws with 24.3 seconds left in overtime, helping the Nets (16-37) stop a three-game slide.

David West had 32 points and 15 rebounds for the visiting Hornets' (32-22), losers of a season-high four in a row.

Orlando Magic 99, Philadelphia 76ers 95 Dwight Howard powered for 30 points with 17 rebounds and the visiting Magic (34-20) beat the Sixers for the 14th time in the last 16 meetings.

Lou Williams topped Philadelphia (24-28) with 23 points.

Indiana Pacers 104, Charlotte Bobcats 103 Roy Hibbert scored 29 points, Josh McRoberts made the eventual game-winning tip-in with 1:21 left and the Pacers (22-28) moved to 5-1 under interim head coach Frank Vogel.

Stephen Jackson led visiting Charlotte (22-30) with 27 points.

Chicago Bulls 91, Utah Jazz 86 Derrick Rose scored 29 points, Carlos Boozer had 14 in his first visit to Utah after leaving in the off-season, and the visiting Bulls (35-16) avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season.

Al Jefferson led the Jazz (31-23) with 28 points, while Paul Millsap added 20 and 14 rebounds.

Golden State Warriors 116, Denver Nuggets 114 Monta Ellis scored 37 points, including a huge three with 37 seconds left, Dorell Wright had 23 with 11 rebounds and eight assists as the host Warriors (23-28) escaped with their fifth win in six games.

Carmelo Anthony paced Denver (30-23) with 29 points, and Brazil's Nene added 17, but missed the potential-game tying jumper at the buzzer.

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