James will not be playing with the Cavs on their game against the Indiana Pacers.
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On the next possession DeMar DeRozan missed his own three point jack off a baseline hook screen, and Tristan Thompson wrenched the rebound to seal Cleveland’s 9th win of the season. Fans were rightly disgruntled and the Cavaliers obviously missed their MVP.
“Everybody was making plays in different ways”, he said. Paul George scored 21 points as the Indiana Pacers took full advantage of the absence of LeBron James to defeat the National Basketball Association champion Cleveland Cavaliers 103-93 yesterday.
From there, the Cavaliers played keep away and took a 2-0 advantage against the Raptors this year. Take your pick from the Cavs at the Indiana Pacers, the Golden State Warriors against the Raptors, the San Antonio Spurs at the Sacramento Kings or the Oklahoma City Thunder at home to the Houston Rockets.
“We are a composed team”.
“We just have to make plays happen”. We’re starting to trust each other from the standpoint of, when a guy tells someone to be in a spot, they’re getting in that spot now. “So whatever is needed for my teammates, I’m going to do”. In 2014-15, not counting the period James was injured, he appeared in both games in 15 of the team’s 17 back-to-back games. The refs didn’t have a handle on the game the whole evening but in hostile ground, probably have to call that one, regardless of Lowry’s intent.
From the 2008-09 season – when he first started to regularly shoot three-pointers – through past year, Frye attempted a shot from deep on 8.7 percent of possessions.
How many points (James is averaging 23.4 of those), rebounds (8.9 per game for him), and assists (9.6, third-most in the NBA) will the Cavs need to account for when James plays fewer minutes? Missing the opportunity to tie the game at 15, Cleveland watched IN go on a 15-6 surge to close out the opening quarter with a 30-19 advantage.
Kevin Love also had 28 points as the Cavs dropped the Raptors to 7-3.
Remember how recently Channing Frye was considered, with his four-year, $32 million contract, to be a salary cap albatross?
Five Pacers reached double figures with Turner scoring 12 and C.J. Miles leading the bench with 10 points.
Cleveland is clicking, showing no signs of a championship hangover.
“He’s a talented player”, Teague of Irving.
“We’re one of the teams at the top that’s going to get every team’s best shot”, Love said. “I think we did a pretty good job”.
Lowry was also whistled for a technical in the final two minutes. I’m a threat any time I step out onto the floor, so I feel like our coaching staff will put us in a great position to be great out there and I’ll put myself in a great position. Irving was replaced after picking up his second foul midway through the first quarter. Casey said after the game that he’d have to see if Carroll would be available. James is so smart and his teammates know where to be, so even when Toronto defended right, they got the shots they wanted.
With or without LeBron, the defending champs are a good team. “We ended up taking a timeout”.
Plenty of work still remains for these Pacers as they continue meshing into the high-scoring, cohesive unit they desire to be. “He’s playing an old man’s game with physicality”. It’s only one game of 82.
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But, it’s a start.
