The Pacers were always maintaining and building a lead with him on the floor and for what it is worth, he finished the night with a +/- of +24. The Cavs repeatedly threatened, but never assumed the advantage after an early Pacers surge. So far in 2016-17, he’s shooting a three-pointer on 17.1 percent of possessions – almost double his previous career high. They went into the second up 38-34. While this one turned out to be a ten-point loss, it was encouraging the Cavs played the Pacers close most of the game when factoring in how much was going against them tonight. “I mean, honestly, I did come off a long summer, a long year, but for me, to establish myself as one of the [elite] guys in the league consistently, I can’t use that as an excuse”.
Advertisement
“I think we definitely had a better effort [Wednesday] than we’ve had in the past”, Love said. “We also did a good job of putting Kyrie in some tough-shot situations”. Paul George appeared more explosive in his second game back from sprained left ankle injury in scoring 21 points and collecting a team-high 11 rebounds. Love led the Cavs (9-2) with 27 points and 16 rebounds. Irving added 24 points and seven assists in the loss.
“It’s not a gimme”. He also said the organization has improved its communication to the rest of the team, informing players earlier in the day that James wouldn’t play so they’d have time to process it.
Monta Ellis had 5 blocks (?!) while also picking up 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and a steal. Kyrie Irving, the starting point guard, had assisted on just one.Frye’s production being tied to James isn’t surprising. IN was coming off Monday’s victory against Orlando.
“Everybody takes it as an audition”.
“With J.R. and LeBron out, we had a chance to give our young guys some court time to develop their game”, Lue said.
The Raptors (7-4) looked exhausted, the Air Canada Centre crowd grew quiet, and the Warriors had stretched their lead to 19 points by early in the third. In the first half, the Pacers had 14 fast break points to none for Cleveland. The Cavs have struggled to put teams away in some fourth quarters this season, forcing James and the starters back into games they otherwise should’ve had extra rest. “They played hard and competed and that’s all you can ask for”. “We weren’t anxious about who was playing or who was going to be on the floor, we were just going to go out and compete”. We gotta get back, gotta sprint back.
“Just execution”, Young said. Although they have Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, and although James is trying to turn more control of the offense over to Irving this season, James remains the engine that revs the Cavs.
Cleveland has played 10 matches in which they have won 9 matches & 1 lost match. Cleveland laughed last in the first half, scoring 10 in succession to draw within one.
George took over in the third quarter.
In the second period, IN started out cold, which allowed the Cavs to get to within three at 38-35 with 6:26 left before intermission. Brooks scored five points in the final 26.7 seconds of the third quarter, then buried another jumper on Indiana’s second possession in the fourth.
Advertisement
The Pacers are now 6-1 at home on the season, and still have four of their next five games in their building. The Pacers began to attack the basket against the tiring Cavs and it paid dividends. Liggins’ heavy workload was a bit of a surprise, as he had only played 90 seconds in the last three games combined. “That’s what’s so big”, Turner said.
