"That was embarrassing, how we played," he said after the Atlanta Hawks routed Cleveland 127-98 on Wednesday night. "I apologize to all the good fans who came out here. Really, just a poor, poor performance."
Shelvin Mack scored a career-high 24 points, and the Hawks won for the 11th time in 12 games.
Mack, a reserve guard who went in averaging 3.8 points per game, made all six of his 3-pointers as the Hawks went 16-for-28 from behind the arc.
Trailing 50-38 midway through the second quarter, Atlanta outscored Cleveland 89-48 the rest of the way. The Hawks, playing without leading scorer Jeff Teague, avenged a 127-94 defeat in Cleveland on Nov. 15.
"We got blown out the first game, like blown all the way out," Mack said. "That wasn't a great feeling. We wanted to come back and see what we're made of."
LeBron James scored 21 points but didn't play in the fourth quarter, which began with Atlanta leading 95-75.
While Blatt said he didn't see any fight in his team, James didn't find the loss embarrassing but said the team had a setback defensively. The four-time MVP took an analytical approach to the defeat, Cleveland's third in four games since winning eight straight.
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