Recap: Cavs 108, Pacers 104 (or, Just Good Enough)

The Pacers arrived in this game having lost on New Year’s Eve to a last second DeMar DeRosan heave in Indianapolis. Not having won a single game to any team other than the Pistons or the Rockets since December 10, they had the scent of desperation. Indy also had a dyspeptic coach, and a healthy frontcourt of Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner, and Justin Holiday. Fortunately, the Cavs could match them blow for blow in the frontcourt battle, led by Evan Mobley’s smooth 24 points and Kevin Love’s ongoing assault on the Association. And thanks to a beastly 30-minute performance by Lamar Stevens, Cleveland’s makeshift backcourt did just enough to win.

In the ongoing and ominous infirmary report, Isaac Okoro got his elbow badly twisted in the second quarter and did not return. Dylan Windler did not suit up, as he was having left knee soreness. Cedi Osman isn’t back yet from protocols, nor is Rajon Rondo yet even on the roster.

First Quarter

Kevin Pangos came out like a purposeful bolt of lightning in the first three minutes of play, running a pick and roll, sinking a floater, contesting a Turner 3, and hitting a triple. The Cavs then started a salvo of big-to-big passes that would last most of the night, but they also started a theme of playing roulette with the shot clock.

Because it’s still Hybrid League, some very random stuff started to happen. Justin Anderson, who a few days earlier had been auditioning for a role on the Cavs, came out to play for the Pacers with his neon-green shoes. Lance Stephenson threw off his Hawks warm-ups from New Year’s Eve and got on the floor for the Pacers. Neither had done the smart thing by staying in Cleveland and navigated his contractual affairs in a University Circle coffee shop on a nominal day off. At least neither had done the foolhardy thing and flown back to Atlanta with covid-positive Nate McMillian and then turned around and flew back to Ohio. Jarrett Allen tried a semi-stepback corner three that hit nothing but iron. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

Cavs 30, Pacers 30.

Second Quarter

Kevin Love apparently led all NBA reserves in the month of December in points, rebounds and made three-point shots. Who is this man’s competition for the Sixth Man of the Year award? Particularly now that Rubio is no longer in contention, it is hard to think of his true peer in that category. Love did his best Ray Allen Game 6 impression by quickly backpedalling for an improvised corner 3 make, something he’s uncorked before. Pangos continued his reasonably strong play, giving up his only turnover in the game — likewise Brandon Goodwin, who got 25:36 of action in his second game with the Cavs. Neither of the Cavs point guards were spectacular versus Indiana, but they took care of the basketball, limiting Cleveland to just eight turnovers to Indy’s 14.

Undrafted rookie guard and G League standout Duane Washington Jr. began what would be a highly charged battle with Lamar Stevens. The former Ohio State Buckeye showed a lot of moxie in this game, dropping in a couple of threes in the quarter and going 4-9 from deep in the game. He ended the game with 20 points on 8-17 shooting.

Lamar Stevens could not match Washington’s prowess from distance; he regressed to 0-4 from three and half of his attempts did not draw iron. However, in Okoro’s absence Stevens had a whole arsenal of basketball moves ready, going 6-13 from the field overall with fearless and unblockable takes over Evan Turner, and going 3-4 from the line on a night where the Cavs continued to struggle from the stripe. Amid a whole load of called touch fouls in the paint, Stevens picked up only one personal foul.

The Pacers final possession in the half put Rick Carlisle’s management style in full relief. Think silent, bottled rage, angry staring, erupting in a screech with a claw in the air. Langsam, Wozzeck! It made me grateful for J.B.’s more humane approach to his players, since we are all people and not machines. Except for Domantas Sabonis, whose mental computer and cyborg skeleton was apparently about to undergo upgrades at halftime.

Cavs 58, Pacers 56

Third Quarter

J.B. started the half with Pangos and Goodwin at the guard slots, exposing how bare the cupboard truly was on this evening. There is surely some back story as to why R.J. Nembhard and Malik Newman did not play, probably partly fairly boring and contractual and partly because J.B. wants to see what he has with the others. Apparently, Goodwin and J.B. have some shared history in Memphis and were able to resurrect a few plays from that bygone era to throw out against Rick Carlisle.

Point guard drama aside, this was the pivotal quarter in the game. For a few minutes it really felt like Cleveland was going to get steamrollered, trading twos for Indiana’s threes, turning themselves over with 24-second violations, and going down 11. Sabonis was cackling after fouls like an 80s Hollywood villain, while his cyborg brain tallied 16 points in the quarter. The dude was unstoppable for a stretch, and put up a Terminatoresque 32 points, 13 rebounds, and seven assist night to only three turnovers. He also got to the line 10 times. More than a couple of trips were reputation calls due to the relatively inexperienced crew calling the game. But given that the Cavs doubled Indy up 28 to 14 on free throw attempts this game, we ought not complain.

J.B.’s response was to counter with Lamar Stevens and Kevin Love, and let Mobley keep running steady. Fortunately, it worked. Probably the turning point could be found on one possession orchestrated by Kevin Love where he was able to back down his defender for a slow 2. Sabonis countered with one of his three triples for the quarter, but the Cavs then proceeded to open up a big run.

The Cavs put together a fantastic stretch of basketball, opening up a huge run keyed by Kevin Love and Lamar Stevens. All Rick Carlisle could do was call a timeout as Stevens was approaching the foul line in some attempt to ice him, but Stevens proceeded to miss his only free throw of the night. Clawing back a point here and there was actually pretty important down the stretch, so hopefully J.B. was taking notes.

Not to be overly confident about the run, it might bear noting that it was helped by some hapless play by Lance Stephenson, and finally getting some whistles to go their way. The Cavs went 9-11 from the line in the quarter, including 5-5 from Kevin Love. The Cavs most decorated veteran hit a stepback with 1.7 seconds left in the quarter, confirming Cleveland was leaning heavily on the fulcrum toward victory.

Cavs 88, Pacers 84

Fourth Quarter

The Pacers started it off with a couple of threes, but Love kept his cool with a nice midrange take, and Jarrett Allen showed the rookie from Ohio State a whole new level of gamesmanship with a block on him and then an and-one circus shot. Down the stretch, the Cavs’ frontcourt played a lot of great defense. Markkanen notched a block and Stevens chipped in two particularly solid solo stops of Sabonis. Mobley (“He’s no rookie — he’s been playing for years!” said a thrilled Austin Carr) put the Cavs up 103-94, flashing ridiculously good post footwork, and it looked like the last couple of minutes would be a formalistic ending to a gentleman’s game. Unfortunately, the Pacers refused to go gentle into that good night and dropped in two rapid-fire threes, while poor free throw shooting (1-4) in crunch time marred an otherwise fine performance for Brandon Goodwin.

The Cavs were able to seal the win with two free throws from Kevin Pangos and a highly precise Jarrett Allen block of a Sabonis would-be tying three right in front of the Cavs bench. The response to the final minutes was therefore relief rather than jubilation, but sometime just enough is good enough, and good enough is what the Cavs needed and got on this evening.

Randoms

Mark your calendars: February 3, 2022 is the six-month anniversary of the Cavs inking Ricky Rubio on August 3, 2021. You might recall that some Cavs fans and analysts had been clambering for Koby Altman to pursue and sign TJ McConnell instead as a free agent. McConnell, two years younger than Rubio at 29, had made a habit of dissecting Cleveland’s offense and performed at peak levels vs. the Cavs, including one nine-steal performance that he later said put him well over the top as the league leader in that category, and led to a description of him as ‘grabby, gabby, and somehow dominant.’ On August 2, the day before the Rubio signing, McConnell signed a deal with the Indiana Pacers, a four-year contract worth $35.2 million. However, he suffered a thumb injury on December 1, had surgery, and may be out for the season.

In honor of the Lance Stephenson reappearance in an Indy uniform, no time like the present to dig into the rich Cavs: the Blog archive of Pacers content. For example, this Nate Smith recap captures an April 21 Cavs playoff win with Indiana fans “tweaking on anger, upset hopes, and basketball angst,” a Kyrie Irving “encased in carbonite” and a Cavs will to win. Nate’s analysis of “developmental big” Thon Maker’s preseason battle with Sabonis in combination with excitement from the return from the longest pro basketball layoff of our lifetimes is another fun one. Finally there is this October 2019 gem (again from Nate Smith) where again the battle of the big men and a great performance from Kevin Love compensates for questionable play from a very young Garland-Sexton backcourt. It also gives some insights into J.B. Bickerstaff’s role as defensive coordinator, allowing the reader to recover some sense that the John Beilein era actually did succeed in laying some, if hardly all, of the foundations for the present success of the team.