Cleveland Cavaliers general manager David Griffin has praised the team for winning an "incredible number of games", despite losing the NBA Finals.
The team finished the regular season with a 53-29 record before winning the Eastern Conference finals in the playoffs, ahead of a 4-2 series defeat to the Golden State Warriors for the title.
Griffin told ESPN: "From my perspective, I've said this all along, you don't go 33-3 [late in the season] with [Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving] healthy and put together the team we had, have it be an offensive juggernaut, and then have to turn around and play without them, be a defensively stifling team, that literally chokes the life out of [the Atlanta Hawks] and sweeps them in a playoff series and have your coach not do a hell of a job.
"I think our whole staff did. And we literally won an incredible number of games against very, very good teams playing radically different styles from each other. So from a purely basketball perspective, I'm not quite sure exactly what anybody is looking to have happen.
"I can't say I get upset because there have been so many ridiculous storylines about our team all year that I think you get to the point where you understand it's just going to go with it. This is how it's going to be. I think, as I said before, it's difficult for me to understand if you're going purely on basketball achievements what exactly this team left on the table, given what we had. I just don't know what we're really critiquing at this point anymore."
The Cavaliers reached the playoffs for the first time since 2010 this season.
Sian Cowper
