Recap: Mavs 99, Cavs 96

One of Byron Scott's principles is he won't take a guy out for missing a shot, but he'll take a guy out for not taking a shot. Jamario Moon has been in and out of Scott's dog house most of the season and now he might have a permanent home there.

Moon said he lost track of the clock. A strong case could be made that he didn't want to take the pressure shot with the game on the line. Either scenario isn't a very good one.

The Cavs had a chance to tie in the final seconds, but Anthony Parker's long 3-pointer bounced off the front of the rim. Antawn Jamison got the offensive rebound and kicked to Moon, who seemed to be wide open. He thought Jason Kidd was coming at him and thought Jamison had the better look, so he gave it back.

With one second left.

The pass seemed to catch Jamison by surprise and there wasn't much he could do at that point. He was left holding the ball as time expired, the Cavs unable to get another game-tying 3-pointer up despite having two open looks at it.

"I didn't even look up at the clock,'' Moon said.

That's not going to go over well with Scott, since it shows an incredible lack of court awareness and illustrates again why the Cavaliers have lost 25 games in a row.

Moon had one of his best games of the season Saturday against the Indiana Pacers. He shot the ball well, defended and ran the court the way he is expected to play. Scott rewarded him with 18 minutes on Monday and left him in at the end of the game. Scott pulled Daniel Gibson, one of the team's best 3-point shooters, in favor of Moon with 3:39 left. Gibson shot just 1 of 5 and didn't look like himself again as he battles through an array of injuries.

Sooner or later, this team will win a game -- perhaps as soon as Wednesday at home against the Detroit Pistons. But Moon's brain cramp is just another example of all that is wrong with this team during this historic losing skid.

Stats
Cavs
J.J. Hickson 26 points, 12 rebounds
Antawn Jamison 18 points, 11 rebounds
Ramon Sessions 19 points, 13 assists
Mavericks
Jason Terry 23 points
Shawn Marion 17 points
Dirk Nowitzki 12 points
Turning point
The Cavs tied the game at 79 early in the fourth quarter, but scored just one basket over the next five minutes as the Mavericks extended the lead back to 10.

Key stat
The Cavs' 25-game losing streak sets the record for longest in NBA history and ranks second all-time in professional sports.
They said it
"I didn't even look up at the clock. I know Antawn was wide open without paying attention to the clock. I was like 'Oh my God.' I didn't even pay attention to it. I'm a big boy, though. I take the blame for it.'' -- Jamario Moon

Up next
The Cavs (8-44) host Detroit (19-32) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.