"Byron Scott played for fast-breaking, highlight- making offenses in Los Angeles, where the Lakers spent more time gazing at the stars seated at courtside than the 24-second shot clocks.

As coach of the young Cavaliers, however, his offense is too often scrambling for shots and open looks as the seconds tick away.

The Cavaliers ranked tied for third in shot-clock violations with 18 heading into Thursday, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Detroit Pistons led the league with 31. Golden State and Portland are tied with the fewest at five.

"We get into what we call late-clock situations way too often," Scott said Thursday. "The one thing we talked about today was our pace of play has to be faster. The way we want to play and the way we want to get the ball moving from side to side and then look to attack means you have to get the ball up the court a lot faster."

Scott has preached to rookie point guard Kyrie Irving the importance of tempo since the start of training camp.

The coach acknowledges the aggressive mind-set leads to some turnovers – the Cavs are tied for the NBA's most giveaways, averaging 17 per game. But he's willing to accept some miscues if it means increasing the pace. He never wants Irving or backup point guard Ramon Sessions walking the ball up the court. "