Recap: Pacers 114, Cavs 111 (or, Turned Over)

In one of the Cavs’ final chances to make a defensive stop, prevent this game from slipping away, and preserve a winning streak, injured power forward Kevin Love stood at the end of a long table in front of the team bench. As he leaned forward in a black hoodie and green chinos, his hands were placed on either side of the table in a posture both of kingly authority and supplication. He wanted the stop, and a win. Lording over the table but unable to influence events on the court, Love watched as the Pacers’ veteran guard, Malcom Brogdon, made his way toward the Cavs sideline through a series of screens. When, with 38.2 seconds left on the clock, Brogdon put the Pacers up 112-107 with an expressionless jumper, Love pounded on the table in fury with both hands, cursing into his slipping black facemask.

It is possible to be peeved at multiple things at once. Frustration doesn't have to be an either/or proposition. https://t.co/CIAmPKVBOM

— Chris Fedor (@ChrisFedor) March 5, 2021

Standing next to him was Darius Garland, the second-year guard and a native of Gary, Indiana. Garland was in uniform but out of the game for the last quarter-and-a-half with a groin pull, and the Cavs were out of rhythm, sputtering their way to a 21-point fourth quarter and multiple disjointed and downright boneheaded possessions. (They finished the game with a staggering 25 turnovers.) As the fourth quarter played out, Collin Sexton got engrossed in crosstalk with the grabby, gabby, and somehow dominant T.J. McConnell, the Pacers’ sparkplug backup point guard. Dylan Windler missed a free throw with less than a minute to go, rendering his final rebound and put-back with 1.3 seconds left irrelevant rather than game-tying. Damyean Dotson was completely out of sync, and while Sexton did pick up on the scoring and the distribution end, dishing out ten assists and netting 32 points for the game, he also was careless with the basketball, tallying up six turnovers.

If you’re on the wagon with the Cavs organization narrative, this was a night for growth and meaningful minutes down the stretch for the Cavs rookies and youth. Rather than go with the vets Cedi Osman or Taurean Prince, Coach J.B. Bickerstaff put Dylan Windler and Isaac Okoro on the floor to close out the game along with Jarrett Allen and Dean Wade and the inevitable YoungBull. But apart from Okoro again showing his ability to drive and get buckets and absorb contact, it was not a stellar performance in crunch time by the squad.

Tough take from @isaacokoro303! 💪

📺 #CavsPacers on @FOXSportsCLE pic.twitter.com/fvngBWRfto

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) March 4, 2021

Wade was solid throughout but, along with Sexton, was a part of consecutive thrown away possessions that literally only went backwards, ending in backcourt violations. Inbounding was again a problem. Were the Cavs this bad at inbounding the ball under the leadership of the excruciating John Beilein? Not to jump to radical conclusions, but presumably these are things that could be worked on and improved through practice.

To be sure, the Pacers were hungry and certainly more desperate than the Cavs, and they brought more urgency and energy to this game. Cleveland had been in such a strong position, with a 70-51 lead early in the third quarter, and appeared to be on their way toward a nice win — but it was not be.

Playing the counterfactual game is, most fans and analysts can admit, a kind of psychological compensation. The loss feels bad, so you throw a few ‘what ifs’ at the problem. What if the Cavs were healthy? What if Larry Nance, Jr. was there to pluck another additional three possessions for the Cavs out of thin air? What if Darius Garland had not been injured? What if Matthew Dellavadova had been available for the game rather than on the sideline, nursing a concussion? (This thought occurred to more than one participant on the CtB live thread for the game — ‘put Delly in for 15 minutes and it is a W,’ wrote one.) A couple more possessions and a better performance at backup point guard almost certainly would have helped the Cavs to swing a win in this game.

But those things did not and could not materialize, and so the three-game winning streak is over and the Cavs are left to stew on this one over the All-Star Break, resting in a familiar position — the middle of the bottom of the pack of the Eastern Conference, considering making some big trades, and with a vague sense that an improved performance is just over the horizon.

A few observations about the body of the game itself:

Dean Wade got the start at power forward again and statistically had a very strong game — 17 points on 5-8 shooting from distance, with 6 rebounds in 31 minutes. His unflappable style in icing the 76ers at the line showed a minor crack with 1:58 left in the game as he failed to hoist what would have been a three-point attempt over the shorter Brogdon as the Pacers defence was scrambled, and instead chucked the ball well away from Allen and into the backcourt. But he followed this with a strong rebound over the larger Sabonis and a dunk with 36 seconds to go. A good continuation of the Dean Wade experiment and the kind of stat line you would hope for from Kevin Love when he gets back, stretching the floor and getting some rebounds.

Andre Drummond was again on the Cavs bench. His potential trade has now been tied publicly to possible trades of Cedi Osman and JaVale McGee. JaVale got quite a bit of late run in this game, tallying 6 rebounds in 19 minutes and about three dinosaur jazz offensive moves that were sort of terrifyingly graceful yet resulted in no points and him in a sprawl of limbs wondering what had happened.

Speaking of self-expression and experiments, J.B. got creative with the lineups again and had a line up of three ostensible long-ball specialists — Osman, Prince, and Windler — on the floor simultaneously with Sexton at guard and McGee at center. Although they did not actually shoot the lights out, that combination appeared to be very active in defensively patrolling the perimeter. However, Cedi, McGee and Windler had the worst plus-minus for the game (-15 or -16), meaning they got the worst of it as the Pacers closed the gap in the third quarter. Prince was a medium-to-mediocre presence in this game, going 2-6 from the field and dishing out 4 assists.

Lamar Stevens did not see the floor in this game. While he is averaging about 15 minutes a night of playing time, it may be that J.B. sees better matchups with the Pacers. Stevens played only 2 minutes in the Cavs’ first game against the Pacers, presumably in garbage time as Cleveland lost that one 119-99.

Dotson played 8 minutes in this game, and managed to get a single bucket. He looked cold and somewhat surprised to be on the floor, rather than self-possessed and eager to control or at least make an impact on the game. Windler is looking more comfortable later in games. Sexton could have done more to control the pace and keep the Cavs in this one down the stretch, but the Cavs ran out of timeouts and ultimately were beat at home by a resurgent backcourt of T.J. McConnell and Malcom Brogdon.

Let us hope that after the All Star Break, Kevin Love is again patrolling the paint rather than pounding tables. The Cavs meet the Pacers again in May.