Recap: Pacers 124, Cavs 107 (Or, More Of The Same)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Aj9_8t1eQc

There’s an old adage this Cavs team reminds me of. It’s not uttered much by people over the age of 14. It goes something like this: “It sucks to suck.” It’s not a particularly deep statement, which is why it’s often said by people so young. And, that’s exactly why I’m using it here. Right now, the issues with Cavs can be recognized by fans of any age. Even non-basketball fans can recognize the problems for Cleveland during this four game losing streak.

The Cavs are simply letting opposing players get wide open. Sometimes, they’re open because Cleveland can’t decide who will cover who in transition, and sometimes they’re open because the Cavs can’t stop any pick and roll  without at least two guys staying on one man. Sometimes even three guys on one man. That’s all there is to it.

The Pacers went 16-26 from deep tonight. That’s 61.5%. They shot 54.4% from the floor overall. That’s a serious issue. Darren Collison had 25 points (9-10) and went 3-3 from deep to go along five rebounds and eight assists. Victor Oladipo put up 23 points (9-20), hit five of his seven 3s, and handed out seven dimes. Those two hit alone hit more than the seven 3s the Cavs did.

Even Bojan Bogdanovic went off. He had 17 points going 6-9 from the floor and hitting three deep balls. Anyone can go off against Cleveland these days. And, it doesn’t matter how well LeBron James plays in a given game, it probably won’t be enough. The King had a very good game tonight. He scored 33 points and handed out 11 dimes. He had eight turnovers, but he was still the reason Cleveland didn’t lose by more.

And yet, the problems started with him. He was the original guy who let someone get hot who shouldn’t in the first quarter. James opened the first 12 with a fierce layup where he was fouled. He didn’t complete the 3-point play, but he went on to score eight total in the first. The man he was covering though, Bojan Bogdanovic, scored more than that. He scored ten going 4-4 from the floor and draining both of his 3s.

LeBron failed to get back down court on the first Pacers board of the night and Bojan drained a fifteen footer. A few minutes later the Cavs let the Pacers go on a 10 point run to go up, 16-10. During that run, seven of the Pacer’s points came from fast break buckets. Bojan broke free and got a 3-pointer in transition when LeBron failed to get back in time after throwing a bad pass to Oladipo. Somehow, the Cavs started the second quarter down just two, 30–28.

The Pacers were able to get the lead back though and showed that the entirety of Cleveland’s defense is  bad. They brutalized Cleveland in the pick and roll in the second 12. The Pacers ripped off a Domantis Sabonis +1, a Corey Joseph  jumper, and another Sabonis +1 driving layup back-to-back-to-back after  simple pick and roll action. None of the shots were covered properly. Two Cavaliers were consistently on one Pacer while another Pacer roamed freely down the lane. It had me scrawling obscenities in my notes and yelling like a mad man, while my dog looked at me wondering what she did to deserve being around such an absurd amount of anger. After those three scores, the Pacers were up by six with 8:41 left in the quarter.

It would have gotten worse, but Lance Stephenson sparked the Cavs by striking LeBron in the groin and getting a flagrant one. LeBron drained both free throws, and J.R. Smith scored a deep-heave off an inbounds pass, after the ball was knocked out of bounds during the possession resulting from the flagrant. This turned into a  9-0 Cavs run where LeBron assisted on all three buckets to bring the Cavs close to even again before half-time.

During the third quarter, LeBron again had to keep Cleveland from dying. He went 4-5 from the floor for nine and handed out five more assists. And, that wasn’t good enough because the Pacers kept getting open. They shot 57% in the quarter and 75% of their buckets were assisted on.

The fourth quarter wasn’t better. No one on the Cavs was able to step up. LeBron had 14 of Cleveland’s 22 and six of their eight made field goals. The Cavs got within three with 7:08 left; however, they promptly let Oladipo drain a wide open 3-ball. They got within five with five minutes left; and, they promptly turned the ball over and let Collison drop an open 3-pointer in transition.

Gripes

1. You probably noticed no Cavalier other than LeBron was really mentioned so far. That’s because they were all abjectly terrible. Derrick Rose had 19 points on 9-13 shooting. That’s not bad, but nearly all of his jumpers were of the, “I have the ball, and this is my offense, I do what I want” type. Look at his chart. He hits the shots Shump thinks he can hit just enough that some people will think they’re good shots and that he’s good.
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3. Dwyane Wade was a no show again. He bricked a 3-pointer so badly that it was a foot to the left of the rim.
4. Kevin Love had 13 points and 13 boards, but he was 4-12 from the field and showed zero ability to stop anyone in the pick and roll.
5. Speaking of the pick and roll. The Cavs can’t stop it. Thankfully, the league hasn’t really figured that out yet. No seriously, they haven’t. In the previous seven games, the Cavs are actually in the 93rd percentile against pick and roll ball handlers. They let them score just .64 per shot attempt. That’s third in the league. Against the roll man, the Cavs are in the 89th percentile allowing roll guys to score just .94 per attempt.
6. Those numbers are just the result of teams heaving the ball out to the 3-line for open 3s instead of using the players involved in the pick and roll action. That changed tonight. The Cavs got roasted in both areas. Teams are going to realize they can have their pick and roll and open 3s too.
7. Cleveland had just six fast break points, while the Pacers had 16.
8. There is a lot more to complain about with this game, but I’m going to finish with the offensive positioning on the court right now. Jae Crowder is always above the break for 3s(He was 0-5 from deep). Why? He isn’t good there. He needs to go to the corner where he has been effective in the past.
9. Rose, Wade, and Jeff Green seem to be in the corners all the time if they don’t have the ball. Why? They can’t hit corner 3s and don’t spread the floor. Teams just sag off of them and cramp floor spacing. Those guys should catch the ball below the arc with momentum towards the hoop. You do that by cutting. It must happen more.

Hypes

1. There’s not much good that came out of this game. Although, I did like the shots Kyle Korver was getting. He finished with just five points and was 1-5 from deep; however, he had good looks. Flare screens work wonders to get shooters open. J.R. received a few nice flare screens, but he couldn’t capitalize either and went 2-6 from deep for six points.
2. LeBron still cares. He was trying to will a win at the end.
3. Jeff Green looked decent too. When he runs the floor and puts his head down, he can score in transition or on cuts. He had a very efficient game. He was 6-8 for 15 and took just one mid-range jumper.
4. Cavs: The Blog’s own Nate Smith All-Star Thadeus Young destroyed the Cavs per usual. He had 26 points on 12-18 shooting. That’s probably a gripe, but if Nate’s even a tiny bit happy about that, that’s some happiness involved with this game and I’ll take it.
5. The Cavs take on Washington Friday.