Preseason Recap: Indiana 106, Cleveland 102 (Or, Good Starters, Bad Finishers)

John Kuntz, Cleveland.com

Editor’s Note: Long time CtB fan Joshua Martin submits his first recap, tonight. Let’s give him a warm CtB welcome.

I like the new modern look of the Indiana Pacers’ jerseys. My wife agreed as she was quick to chime in asking “why are the Cavs’ jerseys so boring compared to the Pacers?” Why indeed? The new look Pacers pushed the pace early and attacked on defense and sped out to a quick 4-0 lead. The game started very sloppily, which seems to be a trend when the Cavs are without Lebron. They were careless with the ball and tried to feed it to Love, but teams seem hyper-aware of this.

AC pointed out Crowder’s energy in the first and I love his fit more and more with this team. He had some nice plays early. Love had a nice elbow set with Wade for a little 2 man action which ended in Wade knocking down a jumper, which was nice to see. Lue finally punted on the hockey substitutions and brought in Nate’s favorite player Jeff Green for J.R. and Calderon for Rose. A little later we saw Korver sub in for Wade and TT for Love. It will be interesting to see how Lue uses his rotations. Definitely looked like Wade is going to be the backup point. A lot of offense ran through him in the post, and mostly, he delivered. Cleveland ended the quarter making their last 5 shots up 33-21.

The second quarter brought much of the same as Cleveland was able to get whatever they wanted on offense. The ball was moving and everyone was contributing. Wade and Rose both looked to be in midseason form and I was pleasantly surprised by how well they played. It is interesting watching Wade’s effort in this preseason game compared to his last few playoff games with the Bulls. Rose knocked down a couple of 3s and Wade turned back the clock with a monster reverse dunk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWOe-mj9_WU

Jeff Green also got into the action when he almost threw the hammer down early into the second quarter, and then fell on his butt. He seemed to stay within himself tonight and not hijack the offense too much. Aside from that play, Jeff seemed to be invisible on the court. I’d still rather have the Enchilada, who remains a free agent.

As the second quarter continued, Love hit both Wade and Rose on outlet passes, almost as if they have been playing together for more than a few weeks. The crisp Cleveland air must have had Love thinking he was back in Minnesota as he was doing it all for the Cavs tonight. He brought a ton of energy and may have been the best player on the court for the first half. The Cavs ran a lot of offense through him at the elbow. And he finished with seven boards, seven points, five dimes, and three steals in the half.  With Kyrie gone, Love may insert himself back into being a top player in the league this year.

Rose looked like he was back in Chicago with a do-it-all first half: 15 points, three assists, a steal, +18, and no turnovers in 14 minutes. He and Wade were spry as they combined 29 first half points and closed the second quarter with Cleveland winning 59-48.

Calderon started the third with the rest of the starters, with Dave McMenamin reporting that Lue wanted to see Rose with the second unit.  The ball continued to move, and the Cavs faced little opposition. Crowder hit a nice 3 towards the top of the key, showing his range. JR seems to be over his incident with Crowder from a couple of years ago and made the extra pass that allowed Jae to knock down a corner trey. Crowder was showing off all of his offensive tools in the third as his eighth point came off a nifty cut and finish. Cleveland’s defense remained very porous and the Pacers were able to hang around. At one point they were 10-11 from the field, a stat we hopefully don’t see again this year but most likely will.

RJ, Tavares, Korver and Green all checked in with about five minutes to go in the third. This was RJ’s first action for the night and that could be telling for his future with the team, unfortunately. I am a RJ supporter and believe he is a pivotal part of the team chemistry. He had a nice sequence at the end of the third working the offensive glass and getting an And-1.

Rose didn’t see any minutes in the 3rd so I assume Lue will try to work him in with the 2nd unit the next game. The last half of the third was uneventful, unless you enjoy Tavares being step too slow for the NBA, seeing Calderon getting stuck on screens constantly, and Korver clanking triples. Kyle couldn’t seem to get a rhythm going on his shot. Let’s hope LBJ returning with perfect pocket passes is the cure. Cavs went into the final 12 up 86-78.

Lue rolled with Holland, Felder, Frye, RJ and Zizic to start the fourth and the starters were done for the night. NBA diehards may be interested in hearing that Big Al Jefferson is no more…he lost 40 pounds and became a vegan. Al reportedly gave up fried chicken; it’s too bad Shawn Kemp couldn’t have done the same. Frye hit a nice 3 and Holland showed off his offensive game with a few nice buckets to extend the Cavs lead early in the fourth. Felder continued to show why he isn’t a NBA player as he missed a bunny on a wide open drive to the hole. He is too short and just not athletic enough. He also ran a half dozen pick-and rolls with Zizic that were painfully incompetent.

TJ Leaf (above, left) left his mark on the game by nailing a couple of 3s and helping the Pacers claw back into the game.  Shortly after Leaf canned his second trey, there was a timeout and Lebron was caught on camera mid yawn. That is how I felt as well, Lebron (the Indians game had my attention). Little Al showed off his next svelte figure and had a nice move down low on Zizic. Welcome to the NBA, big fella. The Ear Whisperer continued his bonehead style of play with a foul 27 feet from the bucket against RJ with the Pacers up 3 and 50 seconds to go….never change Lance.

Leaf capped the game with a nice move down low to put the Pacers up four and ice the game. He had 18 pts on the night with 6-8 shooting in the second half. The Cleveland backers in Vegas holding a -4 ticket can tear them up, but who didn’t see that coming?

#CUTGATE

Perk didn’t see any run, Felder was awful, and Eddy can’t move. They’re all going to be cut. RJ played the last 17 minutes of the game and didn’t look great doing so (2-8, game low -13), but seemed to play with a little extra effort. Green barely played in the second half so he has probably solidified his spot in the top eight of the rotation. RJ’s days with the team may be numbered…