Live Thread: Pacers vs Cavs
2016-02-29
The Indiana Pacers are also going through an identity crisis. All off-season, Larry Legend and the rest of the Indiana brass spoke of unleashing Paul George at the power forward spot. After watching the 2015 Finals, Bird knew which way the wind was blowing. Early in the season, former Cav swingman, C.J. Miles provided the tough wing and post defense in the Pacer small-ball lineup. Like Shane Battier and LeBron, George was only a power forward in name as Miles frequently guarded much bigger PFs, freeing George to stay on the wing. PG-13’s great return from injury and Ian Mahinmi’s improvement provided Indiana a functional small-ball unit that switched seamlessly on the perimeter. But, it had its consequences. Though the Pacers did a great job defending the three ball, they got hammered on the boards and bled points down low.
My preseason pick for “most influential rookie on a decent team”, Myles Turner missed much of the first half of the season with a fractured left thumb. His play after his return has met my expectations. Combined with a C.J. Miles nagging calf strain, Turner’s play has necessitated a switch of the starting lineup. Turner’s defensive presence and silky jumper have been very solid of a rookie, but it has drastically changed the Pacers’ style of play. Their big lineup has been solid in the paint and efficient on the offensive end, but their perimeter switch-ability has taken a hit. During their recent cold streak, opposing teams are lighting them up from behind the arc.
Fortunately for Frank Vogel, the non-galvanized Cleveland Cavaliers also play two traditional bigs. If Myles Turner can play Kevin Love to a draw, look for the Cavaliers’ sadness to continue.
The Cavs should be at full strength for this one unless you count whatever is ailing Mo Williams as a legitimate injury. Sound off.
Update: Mozzy will get the start
The Cavs are only up by one at halftime but this is the happiest I’ve been in a long time watching this team. They are playing defense, LeBron is playing smart and with effort, and it’s spreading to everyone on the team. If they keep this up in the 2nd half, they’ll win by double digits
LeBron is killing it
That’s the kind of astute insight we were all waiting for from you Cols. You deliver again.
Sounds like the Raps are waiving Anthony Bennett…the Cavs should pick him up. He was a number one pick in the draft!!
Okay, Lue has to be smart on Lebron’s mins 3rd quarter. Do not let him play the entire quarter! When you get a tired Lebron and Love, bad things happen. They have a lot of Bigs giving us fits. Need some TT and Mosgov. No idea what to say on Kyrie. He is missing everything.
Part of me thinks to just try Make Kyrie a pass first point guard the first three quarters and limit his minutes, then tell him he can go iso the whole fourth.
Non LBJ cavs are shooting a combined 28.5%. Maybe we should just forfeit every game that doesn’t have more than two days rest preceding it.
Oh great. LeBron has decided to screw up his free-throw technique. But still taking T’s.
I see the Cavs are aweet
Damn, team playing harder with Lebron on the court. Now, if we could get Kyrie’s shots to fall.
Why don’t they play harder without him? I don’t get it. Wouldn’t you show up wanting to prove that you are good even without him?
Seems like a self-fulfilling prophecy though… since they’ve only won like 2 of 16 games without LBJ in the last two seasons… maybe they just don’t believe they can…
Seems like they should prove that they deserve his trust by winning (or merely competing) without him
They’ve gotten into offensive habits that assume he’s there, handling the ball, and facing up against opponents from 20 feet out
Bosh and Wade tried harder when Lebron was out. Didn’t always win but the effort was always there
Who cares?? If LeBron is out in the playoffs they have no chance.
Yeah, that looked weird. His technique has gone down the toilet.
That looks like my broken three, twisted hips, follow through all cocked eyed. Cool, that’s one thing we have in common.
He thought it was a miss. He started to go hard for a rebound.
LBJ hitting threes… what is happening?
Rest can do wonders for a super star like him! And he’s in his Zone!
Well I like the effort and intensity.
Fred and AC getting excited!
Why is LBJ suddenly making Threes?
Is it health?
Is it technique?
Is it random?
He’s been terrible for over a year now. Is this going to go away again soon?
Well, judging by the fact that the last one look liked it curved in. I’m going with random.
Bend it like Bron… /s
If only Mozgov’s hands and brains could match his heart!
Moz needs to visit the Wizard of Oz. Get some STICK EM
Maybe he should pretend the ball is a sandwich from the Garden.
I think he’s only good at throwing Competitor sandwiches on the floor tho…
Wow Mozzy playing some D
I like the way Moz is playing.
Ty should try Mosgov and TT in there more for some burn.
Good defensive intensity. That call on JR was crap.
COME ON REFS. LEARN TO LOVE THE PIPE
Not a foul…
Well that was a nice turnaround. Looked like the Cavs were about to be down double digits and just like that it’s a tie game.
Lebron showing the feeble how IT’S DONE!!!
I’m starting to actively dislike this team. I wouldn’t have thought it possible at the beginning of the year.
Delly, J.R., and sometimes LBJ. The rest of the team I could pretty much do without. Heart has been lacking for a long time.
There has been strides by Love’s D compared to last year. He just gets tired more.
Its not his D that I have a problem with, its the inconsistent effort. Although you make a good point. Before the season and at the all star break he trained at high altitudes. The first few games after he was much better. Makes me think his training is problematic during the season.
When I get frustrated with the team, I try to summon my inner Cols and just remember that we have LBJ on this team and his near triple-double average last Finals. And he feels better this year.
Yeah, but if we’re going to beat the warriors, we need defensive effort like we had last year. I don’t trust Kyrie to turn it on because he’s not very good at it to begin with, and he’s coming off injury. Shump’s D was always good, but its lacking this year. Mozgov the same. They are all lacking in areas where they usually do well.
It at least helps me keep sane during these regular season games. With the way the Warriors are playing anyways, they’d be a tough out even if we were playing like last year.
LeBron transition Triple! YOLO
Love gets too tired at the end of 2nd quarter. It seems like that a lot. Idk what is typically his mins but it seems he plays a lot of mins then
I know I’ve been gone for a little bit… but do the Cavs actually still run plays ever?
Still? Did they ever start running them in the first place?
I think ever since LBJ nixed Blatt’s play in the huddle last year, they stopped running plays altogether.
Good point…
I’m a little rusty with my /s usage…
What you see EG is more often than not what we have been getting.
Ty Lue would be on the hotseat right now if Blatt was his assistant.
He’d be on the hot seat if the 3 Stooges were the assistants if they hadn’t already fired a coach this season. Even the Cavs realize how ridiculous it would be to fire two coaches in a year while being in first in the East….
When Longabardi said that quote about their offense being their defense… I really expected him to rip off his mask (Scooby Doo style) and reveal that he’s really Sasha Pavlovic…
Don’t underestimate the Cavs ability to raise the bar of ridiculous.
Pacers 7 of 7 in the paint this quarter. No resistance.
Both Love and TT have been less than stellar protecting in the paint.
Lavoy Allen is giving his problems.
Kev just got “Vined” by Chase Freaking Budinger…
Kyrie sleeping on the backdoor three to George Hill…
I can’t take much more of his defense this year. If he’s still injured, sit him. But this is reaching Mo Williams level laziness on D. He made such improvements last year…
Chase Budinger is still in the League?
Apparently no one on the Cavs did as they ignored on the second chance dunk.
RIGHT NOW WE ARE BEHIND PACE ( 6 ASSISTS ) TO GET TO THE ” MAGICAL 23 ” FOR THE WIN —–STILL LACKING BALL / PLAYERS MOVING ” WITH A PURPOSE “
KI has the flip going… if not his jumper…
Good to see KLove finally go up for a three with some confidence!
Finally, a 3…
Kyrie with the government sized bailout…
TROUBLED POSSESSION RELIEF FUND
Not sure I love this three guard lineup…
Didn’t that ball go out before the buzzer?
WELL THAT WAS A HIGH OCTANE OFENSIVE QTR ——-RIGHT NOW THE CAVS HAVE NO IDENTITY—–ARE WE UP TEMPO—1/2 CT —–AGREED THE WOMBAT SEEMS TO HAVE GONE ” IN HIDING ” DID HE SEE HIS SHADOW ?
So was that ugly offense or good defense by both teams in the 1st quarter?
Our shot chart looks much better than theirs – we’re all in the paint or from three. That says bad defense on the Pacers and just missing from three from us (J.R. had three open misses himself).
Their shot chart is a lot of midrange twos, telling me we’re running them off the line and not letting them go inside. That’s good D.
So Delly gets the ball with one tick left, but LBJ shoots the tech. Backwards.
Lebron will never defer to him. He doesn’t care Delly is 90% at free throw.
TT working HARD under the hoop…
Yeah still don’t get why LeBron was shooting a tech?
Shump’s shot is broken…
Where has the Loaded Wombat gone? Feel like it’s disappeared…
I feel like I haven’t seen TT get O rebounds nearly as much anymore. Lots of things seem to have disappeared. Maybe with your return…
I cringe when Shumps a 3 lately
I cringe when he dribbles
Different team with LBJ running downhill at the rim… should open things up for KI, JR, KL and maybe even Charlie Frye from the outside… (and yes, he’s Charlie until he hits one tonight ;)
DId we ever find out if it was Jim Carey or Drew Carey that said the Cavs could still win the Championship?
If it was Jim… I bet he was dressed as Lloyd Christmas when he said it…
Seriously. Nobody got this? smh
http://videosift.com/video/Dumb-and-Dumber-So-You-re-Telling-Me-There-s-a-Chance
In Dumb & Dumber, Jim Carey asks a girl about his chances on getting a date.
“Not very good.” She replies.
“Not very good . . . like 1 in a 100?”
“I would say more like 1 in a 1,000,000” She says.
“So then, you’re saying there’s a chance.” “YEAH!!!!”
So going back to the previous post Brian Windhorst interviewed Jim Carey, and Carey thinks the Cavs still have a chance to win a championship. YEAH!!!
Honestly, when Lebron gets smacked in the face and doesn’t et called, I begin to feel as though the refs don’t WANT to watch him brick free throws…
Great drive by LBJ!
take it to the RACK
Mozzy having a big rebounding game already… Five so far…
I’d really love to see Bron take this shot like 5 times a game…
Nice feed into Mozgov by Kevin Love there
LeBron really loves layups on the left side of the hoop
AC apparently just knocked over Fred’s IPad…
See above. LeBron in the post FTW.
Great spin by LBJ earlier…
Timo just dribbled the ball like a maniac… but still nothing good happened…
I wish LeBron was exclusively play PF. He is SO lethal in the post when he wants to be.
KLove strong to the hole!
Aw drag… game is on NBATV… I’m at the mercy of my spotty office WIFI…
WOW… KLove got UP on that defense…
CLF… what’s the over/under on Cavs bringing back GumDropBear?
YES WE ARE NOW AT FULL STRENGTH ( NOT COUNTING MO –EXTRA ROSTER SPOT ) HAVE A RELATIVELY ( BY LEAGUE STANDARDS ) EASY SCHEDULE REST OF THE SEASON —-” SHUT UP—MAN UP ” NO MORE EXCUSES JUST POSITIVE RESULTS ——–LIKING OUR ODDS TONIGHT ( AT JUMP START TO A STRONG FINISH ) EVIL IS BACK—-LET’S GO CAVS !!—-LIKE THE IDEA OF PUTTING MOZ BACK WITH THE STARTERS —-JUST THE BIG BODY HOPEFULLY WILL ALTER / DETER SOME SHOTS ——-ALSO WE ARE GOING TO UNLEASH “THE ORANGE MAMBI “( JORDAN MCRAE )
Don’t the Cavs always win on Leap Day?
Let’s go!
LBJ is back… and I’m back… time to get serious for the stretch run Cavs!
You have been missed. Very glad to have you back EG.
Missed being here… good to be back!
We missed you greatly. Welcome back.
Thanks JoeyB! Good to be back in LA
A win here, no matter how convincing, will do nothing to change my outlook on the season. Not after how this season has progressed so far.
Yeah. They’ve shown enough mental weakness that nothing can un-do that perception until they win in the playoffs.