Recap: Pacers 100, Cavs 89 (Or, oh God there’s so much failure)
2010-11-23
Overview: In a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated, the Indiana Pacers absolutely manhandled the Cleveland Cavaliers by making wide-open shots and looking like they wanted to play basketball. Joey Graham led the Cavalier starters with 11 points.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
This is the kind of epic sucking a lot of people predicted from the LeBron-less Cavaliers. The Cavaliers could not have played worse offensively in the first quarter — Varejao and Hickson both look completely uncomfortable in half-court situations, and the Cavaliers didn’t seem to remember which jerseys they were wearing. The effort level wasn’t there, but at least the team wasn’t executing or making jumpers. Honestly, the only reason the Cavaliers made it to the second quarter with the Pacers leading by single-digits was because the Pacers missed seven threes, and most of them were wide open.
In the second quarter, the Pacers started making their shots, and that’s when things got ugly. The Cavaliers looked completely shocked every time the Pacers threw it to the other side of the court for a wide-open three. They had no answers for Darren Collison in transition. They didn’t step up on shooters at any point. Brandon Rush was riding a “holy crap, I just had an awesome game against the Heat” high and making every crazy shot he threw up, but everything else was way too easy.
84 of Indiana’s 100 came from the paint, the free-throw line, or beyond the arc. Hibbert scored all of six points. It’s one thing to have the Spurs do that to you, but to let the Pacers get any shot they want is embarrassing. This team is not talented enough to beat teams by trying to outscore them. They have to play like they know how to play defense, and want to play it. That should be priority one right now. Everything about that game was terrible.
If this team wants to run so badly, why is it playing the least athletic 1-3 combination in the league? Parker and Graham are nice enough players, but there’s no way they should be starting right now. If the team is going to play defense like this, there’s no reason not to start Mo alongside of Sessions or Boobie (or hell, why not all three?) and at least make teams adjust to them. Something needs to happen to prevent more performances like this.
Bullets of Randomness:
Josh McRoberts made more threes than the starters attempted.
Alright, that’s it. Four-game stretch coming up including games against the Celtics and Magic, then The Return. This would be a nice time for the Cavs to get it together a little bit. I know it’s only a three-game losing streak, and two of those games were against great teams, but this team has to compete if it wants to have success. That didn’t happen on Tuesday.
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I hate to say it, but this year isn’t a very important year for the cavs. I think that they should just trade trade every player 28+ years old. They would at least get 3 extra 1st round draft picks for AV/Jamison/Mo. I like all of those players, but they belong on contenders. By the time we are a playoff team Jamison would have retired and mo/anderson would be 32+ years old and not worth much. If they would have 4 draft picks this coming draft, I would like to tank this year (I know we most likely wouldn’t get… Read more »
Rich you are right about Moon/Jawad but Hollins is the only true center we have, and honestly I like the things he has done so far. Yes, he needs to improve but besides Jamison, who I think is completely maxed out ability-wise, so does everyone else in the team.
Well Krolik, we do have serious issues. I mean my god we are giving a ton of guys significant minutes who have never even sniffed 10ppg in their careers. Hollins/Moon/Williams (jawad). Basically, we have a roster SLIGHTLY more talented than Miami, except w/o the stars. As far as the game goes…Hickson needs more shots. That’s about all I can imagine improving this season is Hickson. He simply needs to have more of the offense run through him just to see what we have here. If he can’t handle it, then we’ll know we need a total rebuild and none of… Read more »
The Pacers will finish well above .500 this year. You can quote me on that.
I like the idea of developing JJ in theory. In practice, I increasingly think he’s a freakishly athletic big man who simply doesn’t have what it takes between the ears to succeed in the NBA.
HoopsDog – you’re completely correct about AP/Harris but I say keep JJ in there. Just like Harris needs the minutes to grow as a player, so does JJ and at one point in the season Eyenga. They need actual playing time if they are to become better players.
I don’t think Indiana is a .500 team. They have legit talent. Granger is an all-star, Collinson is a very solid 1, Dunleavy is a solid, stretch 4, Hibbert is one of the better back to the basket big men in the league, and they have a solid bench. The are number 4 in the Eastern Conference in point differential, That team is alot better than people realize. Honestly, I think they can be the 4th or 5th seed depending on how Chitown and Miami shake out.
I fail to see how Manny Harris could be worse than Anthony Parker at this point. 0-5 4 turnovers in 24 minutes? Parker is old and slow, and plays the position in the NBA that requires the most speed and athleticism. It’s time to hit the pine. It may be time to consider moving JJ to the bench at well, but at least he rebounded for the first time last night, and you have to take your lumps with the young guys sometimes… The bench embarrassed the starters last night. Boobie and Antawn are the best offensive players on the… Read more »
I don’t think you have to have an all star lineup for your team to play defense. Just because you aren’t hitting your own shots doesn’t mean you should allow the opposing player to attempt their own shots without so much as any resistance.
If this is what happens when we compete against a .500 team (coming in), then we’ve got some serious issues.
Who’s to say they didn’t compete? They simply don’t have talent. That’s about all there is to it.