Hornacek blames illegal screen on wrong player following loss to Cavs

Phoenix Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek was none too pleased with a certain Cleveland Cavaliers player following a 101-97 loss to the Eastern Conference leaders on Monday night.

The only problem was that Hornacek was upset with the wrong player.

Suns center Tyson Chandler was called for an offensive foul late in the game after setting an illegal screen on Iman Shumpert, with Hornacek blaming Cavaliers guard Matthew Dellavedova - who wasn't involved in the play at at all, as he was sitting on the bench - for baiting the officials into blowing the whistle.

"You see picks all game long that are illegal, and then all of a sudden they're going to call that one, so that was a tough one right there," Hornacek said after the game, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "I'm sure whether it was legal, illegal, I can guarantee Dellavedova probably pulled Tyson. It's the trick. You watch these games on tape, he does it all the time. So I guess that's a smart play. He suckered the guy into calling it."

Cavaliers head coach David Blatt was made aware of Hornacek's inaccurate statement before Cleveland's game Tuesday.

"If he's calling out a guy that wasn't on the court, I guess that sort of says it all, doesn't it? I don't think I need to respond to that," Blatt said. "That says everything in and of itself."

The foul call canceled out a 3-pointer by Suns guard Brandon Knight, which would have given Phoenix a two-point lead with 46 seconds remaining in the game.

Dellavedova, who's averaging nine points per game as a reserve for Cleveland, offered a wisecrack concerning Hornacek's mistake.

"I mean, I guess me and Shump look pretty similar," Dellavedova said.