Recap: Cavs 104, Pacers 100 (Or, The Slow Burn)

After 12 minutes of play, the Cavs led by six points. After 16 minutes of play, they led by 16 points. Then the typical Cavalier bleeding started. After 24 minutes, they led by 10. After 29 minutes, they led by five. After 36 minutes, the Wine & Gold no longer had a lead. And, after 42 minutes they were down by one. The Cavs have been treating their leads like some form of bonus armor they’re picking up during games. They’re disposable. They’re something that’s nice to have, but not really necessary.

Tonight, that mindset didn’t burn them. Cleveland managed to hold the Pacers to just eight points in the final six minutes of action while scoring 13 of their own behind a Kyle Korver All-Star level finish. Korver began the night missing four open looks from 3-land. He then finished 4-5 on his final 3s to finish with 18 points.

In the fourth, Korver sealed the game for Cleveland. With 3:48 left, and the Cavs down down two, he ran to the corner in transition and Kevin Love found him for a 3 to grab a 94-93 lead. With 2:29 left, Korver came off a Love off-ball screen to drain another 3 to extend the lead further, 99-95. With the gravity Korver was commanding, LeBron was able to take the ball to the rack one-on-one against Bojan Bogdanovic on the next offensive production (which it most be noted, was proceeded by the Cavs forcing a 24 second violation). No Indiana players wanted to help towards the paint when they thought their assignment might be setting a screen to break Korver free.

Kyle Korver’s gravity helped force the Pacers to play LeBron straight up in the fourth. LeBron does work against Bojan.

Finally, Korver hit two free throws with 14 seconds left to put the Cavs up six to come out with a win.

The Cavs set the grounds for this win early on. In the first quarter, they came out playing very tight defense holding the Pacers to just 24 points, which would have been even less if Lance Stephenson didn’t grab five points and Victor Oladipo didn’t get a cheap jump shot foul against J.R. Smith in the final two minutes.

The Wine & Gold offense looked stagnant to start. Guys weren’t moving, and a lot of the shots were of the LeBron dribbles and whips a pass into a shot variety. The Cavs managed to get up 11 3s though, despite J.R. hitting the only 3 the Cavs made. The Cavs weren’t giving up on the long ball and the supporting play helped them to do that. They grabbed four points off forced turnovers and LeBron put in 11 of his 32 points in behind some monster Tristan Thompson screens. J.R. put up a sixty footer to end the quarter, 30-24.

JR Smith forever https://t.co/gMFId8yuTo

— SN Ohio (@SN_Ohio) April 23, 2018

In the second quarter, Tyronn Lue trotted out Jordan Clarkson, James, Larry Nance Jr., Jeff Green and Rodney Hood. It was a lineup that shouldn’t have worked considering none of those guys can drain 3s. They made it work though by ratcheting the defense up and getting out in transition. On the first Pacer’s possession Nance grabbed a steal and was ultimately fouled on a fast break dunk attempt. The next play Nance sprinted the floor for a James TD pass dunk. Lance even played chess in the pick and roll with LeBron after holding his roll the perfect amount of time for James to find him with ease.

https://twitter.com/SheaSerrano/status/988233049757376512

Of course LeBron did his own damage too. He made sure Bojan knew he couldn’t cover the King.

Looks like LeBron has had enough of Bojan Bogdanovic defending him #TwitterNBAShow https://t.co/MuQrLMes4Y pic.twitter.com/YHGIdHpckh

— Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) April 23, 2018

Jordan Clarkson also helped from the bench putting up ten of his own in the quarter. He finished the evening with 12 points, all of which came in the first half. Each shot he took in the quarter was more absurd and lucky than the last, but sometimes that’s what a sixth man does. At one point the Cavs were up by sixteen, but the Pacers made a run pushing the pace and hitting open 3-pointers. The Clarkson scoring burst allowed LeBron to stay fresh and score the Cavs final eight in the quarter pounding the ball to the rack and hitting four freebies to not let the lead disappear.

The Cavs started the third up ten, but the Pacers ripped off 10-2 to start. Kevin Love, who had previously played just a few minutes due to picking up two early fouls, wasn’t engaged. He kept ending up in no mans land on defense. He wasn’t trapping and he wasn’t deterring penetration. Myles Turner loved it, getting five of the first points during the run with a 3 and a layup. He finished the night with 17 points on 7-9 shooting to go with three boards.

Lue stuck with Love despite his limitations and ineffectiveness. On two separate occasions in the quarter, Love decided to just not run down the floor and Domantas Sabonis got four easy points because of that. If it wasn’t for the Cavs hitting four of their 12 3s, they could have been in trouble. Outside of the four 3s, the Cavs only other buckets were two tip backs Love had. They couldn’t create quality looks and didn’t score the final 2:46. They led by just two heading into the fourth, 80-78.

Both teams battled during the fourth trading baskets until the six minute mark when Korver took over. Jeff Green had nice sequence where he made a hook shot, got a block, and hit a 3. Other than that, no Cavs really shined.

Gripes

1. Tonight, the Cavs gave up another large lead. At one point the team is going to need to stop blowing these leads. It was quirky during the regular season, now it’s downright crippling. It caught up with them in game 3 . Tonight, they got lucky.
2. Kevin Love scored five points and grabbed 11 boards and was not engaged. He picked up two early fouls and had to sit. That’s not easy, but he pouted at points in the game when he didn’t get calls, and he wasn’t getting back on defense. The Cavs need more from him in all areas of his game right now.
3. Lue shouldn’t have played Kevin so much tonight. He had 29 minutes and Nance and TT had just 22 combined minutes. TT was a +7 and got just seven minutes. He was setting very hard screens and contributed more in a basketball sense than his one rebound and steal showed. Nance had very good chemistry with James setting screens. He had two steals, three boards, and six points.
4. The Cavs should consider not trapping and doubling as much. They might even want to spring that stuff on guys other than Victor Oladipo. At a certain point, Indiana knew what was coming. They went 12-33 from deep. They usually hit nine per game which is near the bottom of the league.

Hypes

LeBron James is amazing. 46 minutes, 32 points 11 rebounds, 7 dimes, 2 blocks, 1 turnover. On is 14th freaking season!

— HoopsDogg (@oldseaminer) April 23, 2018

1. LeBron had another awesome game. He really steadied the Cavs in the second quarter with his scoring at the end. And Nate, it’s Bron’s 15th season.
2. That burst was made possible by Jordan Clarkson scoring 10 points. The Cavs need their bench to continue having games like this. LeBron just needs a little help. Korver’s 18 helped the King keep the game winnable in the fourth. Jeff Green’s five in the fourth also helped.
3. If Kevin Love can return to form, these games won’t be as close. The Cavs can grind games out with Love and James performing well. When Love disappears, the bench has to step up. The blueprint for blowout wins is here. They just need a game with a few bench standouts and Love dropping fire from deep.
4. The defense tonight shut down Victor Oladipo. The trap lets 3s drop, but Vic had 17 points on 5-20 shooting, Darren Collison struggled too getting 12 points on 5-12 shooting. They combined for 13 assists though. Bojan and Sabonis combined for 29 on 13-25 shooting. These were the outlet guys on traps. The Cavs can live with that line.
5. With nine seconds left in the game, Jeff Green secured a rebound and Lance Stephenson wrapped the ball up above Green’s head. The problem was he also had part of Green’s neck and head grabbed too. He then body slammed Green to the ground. The refs took quite a bit to figure out that this was a foul, but they did. So, good for them.
6. Hopefully, this will be the final move that Lance pulls. He baited LeBron into a technical during the game by jawing at him. The refs need to tame Lance. He isn’t a basketball player. He’s a nuisance.

Joe Borgia, NBA Senior Vice President of Replay & Referee Operations, appeared on Inside the NBA @NBAonTNT to discuss the Lance Stephenson-Jeff Green play toward the end of the game in which Stephenson was called for a personal foul on Green. pic.twitter.com/OxOBBcDu4p

— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) April 23, 2018

The Cavs are back home Wednesday and will hold their home court advantage with a win.