Playoff Live Thread: Cavs vs. Pacers, Game 2 (#Whatever…)
2018-04-18Well, Game 1 is in the rear view… and the hope is for Game 2 that the Cavaliers aren’t too complacent to read past the first word of this year’s team playoff slogan. It certainly seemed like it in their sleepy, sloppy dud of an opener to the post-season. Actually, I have no room to talk, since I missed the game entirely due to some work and family commitments… but the high low lights were painful enough to glance through. If you want a salient and informative breakdown of some of the finer points, make sure you check out David’s Woodshop article if you haven’t yet.
LeBron has been on the record many times about how playoff seeding isn’t important to him, and now the Cavs find themselves essentially in the five seed after losing home court advantage in the series to the Pacers. Whatever you feel like blaming the loss on… be it LeBron’s early passivity, his newer teammates inexperience or inability to gel under the bright lights of the playoffs, Kevin Love either not getting enough shots or not demanding the ball in the post more, poor defensive rotations, awful coaching, general make or miss league variance or even Victor Oladipo’s revenge for Dan Gilbert taking veiled shots at him over the summer… it’s one game, and it’s over. That said, there’s probably never been a second game of the first round more important to win than tonight’s game.
Ty Lue has been teasing changes to his starting lineup since about five minutes after he walked off the court on Sunday… but still no definitive word yet (and now it’s official).
#Cavs starting LeBron, Love, Hill, Smith and Korver.#Pacers
— Tom Withers (@twithersAP) April 18, 2018
We do know that George Hill is a bit banged up after that hard screen, and that Rodney Hood was excused from practice earlier in the day… here’s why…
Looks like Rodney Hood welcomed twins into the world this morning. https://t.co/VgX2Y3oPsq
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) April 18, 2018
All that really matters though is that LeBron comes out aggressively, Kevin Love demands the ball in the post, the Cavaliers’ sharpshooters actually make some shots, and the Cavs play with more intensity and physicality on defense… y’know, like a team that actually does whatever it takes to win… rather than just whatever.
My predictions haven’t been great lately, so I’m just going to say the Cavs should and will win this game, although it won’t be easy, and it will take a better triple double from LeBron than Sunday’s triple double.
Catch all the action starting at 7pm EST on TNT… and as always, chime in here with your thoughts along the way.
GO CAVS!
The D has looked pretty darn good. Love especially.
LBJ working hard out here.
Expect Indy to pound it into turner and young a lot more against this lineup going forward.
KLOVE THREEEEE!!!! ASSIST LBJ!
Put a smelly sock in Weber’s mouth already
Albert is worse. He cannot even tell a foul vs 24 second violation vs traveling vs a TO.
Dude, just look at the ref and listen for the buzzer.
Albert bites.
Cavs absolutely menacing on d right now
CTB robot says I’m posting too quickly. Dawg, you watching LBJ play?
LBJ jumper is wet
KEVIN!
LBJ was fouled!!!! CALL IT REFS!
Is this real life?!
Pacers are caught in a landslide
Webber now willing to give LeBron his 100 points (up from 40 or 50 a minute ago) if the Pacers contain the rest.
Prediction: If LeBron scores 100, the Cavs win.
Member when LBJ said he could win the scoring title every year if he wanted to and everyone criticized him for it?
LeBron needs to score 101. Break another record.
We still stink at entering the ball to the post.
No kidding…. fools need Bobby Knight or Coach K to teach them an effin ball fake.
C’mon JR you can pass better than that!
HISTORY WILL BE MADE TONIGHT!!!
Where has this defense been??
I cannot stand Marv Albert.
This LeBron fellow is pretty good…
MORE FIRE!!!!
Count the many ways in which the Pacers are failing to score
LBJ going for a playoff record?
If we play Lebron every other game from here on out, we win the finals.
LBJ on fire. Nice box out by Korver. Hill, Korver are hands up players on d.
11-0 by LeBron…
HE’S ON FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!
LETHREE!
An engaged JR on defense makes a huge difference…
Amen. He has been chillin’ too much this year.
Now that is dominating.
All about spacing. Cant believe it…I love the tye lue adjustment
Somebody learned how to putt…..
LBJ on pace for 221 points tonight.
Finally puts him ahead of Jordan
LOL
Now that’s more like it
Want to see at least semi active George Hill on offense…
Indiana can’t use the same scheme with this lineup, no more matchup zone or box and one. They have to respect JR, Korver, Love, and Hill. Means LBJ has far more space to operate.
Energy level off the charts compared to first game.
Panic TO by McMillan… noice!!!
Chill mode: deactivated.
Much better. Aggressive Bron. JR with good aggressive D. 2 quick fouls on Dipo.
2 on Dipo! Sweet!
Aggressive lbj
Yeah… this is night and day already…
Wow two QUICK dipo fouls
LBJ scoring 200 tonight.
Two on Dipo!
Good start
Korver takes a charge!
Some D by JR…
Yup.
Didn’t take long for LBJ to score this time…
Defense should be interesting with this group.
Korver’s smart….. JR’s trying so far so good.
Ready for the Chris Webber pearls of wisdom… /s
Call a TO when you don’t have one?
I like the change. 2nd unit should be Calderon, Clarkson, Hood, Cedi/Green, and LNJ.
Korver starts after getting 4 minutes in game one. Was his foot bad and now it’s good, or what?
Ty lies so much it is hard to keep up.
There is no way we drop another game after that gut punch.
We should win the next four.
16 more wins to go!
Ha!
welcome back and congrats evil—also congrats to ‘daddy hood ” make this a memorable day / night for many reasons !!!—–
If things go badly, Tribe/Twins with a good matchup (Carrasco v. Berrios) in PR on ESPN also…
This lineup could score a lot of points… it could also give up a lot of points…
Ty says he wants to “open up the floor” for LeBron and Kevin…
Golly, what a good idea, Ty.
This is likely the ‘best’ lineup Ty was refering to yesterday.
Fortunately the Jeff Green as starter experiment is done. Particularly since Green just plans to keep on shooting apparently
I guess that’s a positive. Why not start Nance at center?
It’s official…
Not sure what you do to start the second quarter…
Obviously have LBJ play all 48 and then unleash the TT/LNJ combo.
Or just run Clarkson ISO’s for 8 minutes.
Calderon in every single minute with Clarkson and completely handling the ball. Clarkson doing nothing but spotting up unless on the break. Hood getting dribble handoffs from nance in the elbows, green being well green. Lots of p and r with Calderon and Nance.
I would frighin’ hope Ty chooses:
1) Sit Bron/Love a tad early and bring one back as the center for the 2nd unit O.
Bron + Clarkson-Hood-Nance+ Green/Cedi.
Love + Nance, Clarkson, Hood +1 of Cedi,
Jose, Green.
2) Let Jose run point for a couple minutes.
3) Pull Hill early and bring him back with the 2nd unit.
All in on 4 out.
Coach Lue better coach his ass off.
/S
Is Lue’s genius plan to start as many lineups as humanly possible? I can’t wait for Game 3’s lineup featuring Green, TT, and Nance.
Well that doesn’t really makes sense.
Does anything Lue does?
Got me there.
It makes some sense. Hill-JR-Korver–Bron–Love is our most playoff tested unit we could choose withou TT out there. 4/5 of it have played together for over a year. Absent TT, that is good as this team can do familiarity wise. Korver, JR, & Love are our 3 best 3PT shooters in my view. And Hill is over 40% for the season. There is no one they can layoff. Korver should be able to guard Bogdonavic fairly well. It could open up minutes for Cedi off the bench. Especially if Jose does not play much and Clarkson is the 2nd unit… Read more »
Would rather have Smith/Korver start than Green/Hood. Hopefully Lue remembers that JR isn’t a point guard like game one.