Recap: Cavs 95, Pacers 92 (or, Clinchin’ Ain’t Easy… But It Sure Is Sweet!)

Whew… that was closer than expected. While the Cavs were looking to avenge two prior losses to an upstart Pacers team, still missing PG-13 and without David West for much of the night, Indiana fought like a cornered animal for their slightly fading playoff hopes in this last meeting between these two teams (at least in the regular season). It didn’t help that LBJ was almost sick enough to miss this one (he was questionable after missing morning shootaround with a bad head cold), or that Kyrie’s shot looked sicker than Bron felt. But the diagnosis from this game was that claiming a spot in the post-season is the ultimate cure for any ailment.

That’s right, Cavs fans… this wine and gold victory officially ended the drought of the past four years. The Cavs are BACK in the playoffs. It may have been a foregone conclusion for many, if not all, and it’s only the first step on the road toward winning that elusive championship… but do yourself a favor. Stop. Take a moment. Say it out loud to yourself… savor it… enjoy it…

The Cavs… are BACK… in the playoffs!

Here’s how it all went down…

First Quarter:

After starting the game with some strong inside-out action with KLove scoring in the post and a Kyrie assisted three from JR, Cavs let the Pacers get out on a 7-0 run with George Hill and Roy Hibbert doing the damage. The Cavs missed their next six shots, although were doing their best to drive inside and collect fouls on the aggressive Pacers. The interior defense then picked up and Moz decided to go all Ivan Drago on Hibbert and pound him into submission before hitting a sweet jump hook over the staggered big man. This sparked a 17-2 Cavs run that featured JR with a block and coast-to-coast layup, a deeeeeep Kyrie three, and Moz generally running the floor like a large Russian reindeer.

With a minute and a half left in the quarter, things were looking particularly good for the Cavs… until Kyrie got stuck on a Mahinmi screen and Hill got loose for an uncontested three. This was followed by a six point burst from Russell Brand’s doppleganger, which included a buzzer beating tip in off of a combination awful box out by Iman, and an over-the-back non-call on Scola. Cavs still led 25-20 at the end of one.

Second Quarter:

The period started with a bang on a JFJ three off a long rebound. Then LBJ blew his nose and shook off the effects of his cold for a couple of strong drives to push the lead to double digits. But the Pacers hit a few contested shots to close the gap. After back-to-back moving screens were called on Mahinmi and TT, commenter Phil Hubbard wondered “Is Tim Duncan the only player not called for that kind of moving screen? He must have been grandfathered in like spitballers in baseball.”

CJ Watson and Rodney Stuckey took turns on back-to-back runout transition baskets off of Cav turnovers to cut it to one. After missing a couple from distance, Kyrie drove inside and found himself at the bottom of a football pile (he would emerge concussion free). KLove then got West to “fall for the banana in the tail pipe” and foul him on a three.

This was good because Kev hit all three throws, but bad because West checked out (and only returned briefly because of his own illness) and Mr. +/- Scola checked in. The rest of the quarter, saw the Cavs allowing the high-scoring Pacer bench to get hot. Bron and Kyrie kept trying to drive inside, but only seemed to come away with free throws and not and-ones. JR made a terrific behind the back move to get free for a shot, but Hill and Watson scored four points in the final 30 seconds of the quarter. Cavs up 45-42 at the half.

At the half, both teams were only hitting a combined 38% of their shots, but Allie Clifton was hitting on all cylinders with another humorous interview with Moz. No Russian this time, but these two could get big ratings with their own network sit-com. Charlie E commented, “Allie needs to start spouting Russian. This must happen,” and Joey B suggested, “That would be fantastic. She needs to practice something so she sounds fluent for one sentence. Just to see what he does next. Let’s chip in to get her a tutor.”

Third Quarter:

The Cavs hit the floor with no sign of LBJ (maybe he needed an IV drip at half?). However, they quickly got in rhythm with a KLove bank shot and three sandwiched around a nifty Kyrie drive and JR jab-step two. Following a Frank Vogel rage time-out, Bron checked back in, but whatever Frank said to his troops fired them up to the tune of a 16-2 Pacers run. Aside from an LBJ oop to Moz, both Hill and Hibbert abused their counterparts (Kyrie and Moz) to vault Indiana from 11 down to a three point lead. The Cavs seemed to abandon their earlier game plan to drive inside to get Indy in foul trouble and were baited into jacking up long shots.

Moz broke the drought with a crush off a Love assist, but got T-ed up for showing up the refs. Kyrie let CJ Miles waltz past him for a dunk, and Delly checked in to give KI a blow. For the next 3:30, Delly would help LeBron take over. He assisted or scored on all 12 of the remaining Cavs points in the quarter. A lob to Moz, a dish to LBJ, and then a SICK reverse layup and a trey! He capped it off with another assist to Bron who made a terrific fake pass and calmly drained a three. The Cavs got a couple shots on the last possession to take the lead, but to no avail. After allowing 31 points to the Pacers in the quarter it was all square at 72 apiece.

Fourth Quarter:

An even more rare line-up change than LBJ not starting the third quarter, was a Moz sighting at the start of the fourth. He quickly made himself known with a Moz-Block on CJ Watson, although he missed the subsequent Moz-Crush on the oops. The Pacers turned up the physicality to playoff intensity in this quarter. JB225 commented, “Have to give credit to the Pacers defense they don’t overhelp they play great defense on every position on the floor.”

Then, all of a sudden, Matthew Dellavedova found a way to channel his inner Kyle Korver and hit back-to-back huge DELLY TREYS! And when Shump stole the next possession, you just knew what was coming… that’s right… DELLY HEAT CHECK! Alas, it was not to be… and maybe just as well since the crowd at the Q may not have survived it. In fact, JMay said “I think it would have resulted in riots… and Nate said “I was going crazy. Wanted the heat check to fall.”

Shortly thereafter, Delly was forced to leave the game after getting popped in the mouth by Watson on a questionable blocking foul. As soon as he left the court, the Cavs perimeter D and lead evaporated as they gave up back to back triples to Pacers. Kyrie then picked up his fourth foul (on what looked to be a Watson flop), and Delly returned, but the magic had now worn off. Moz also left, but KLove checked back in (this would be important later).

Finally, LeBron had had enough and figured it was time to take over, sickness be damned… Over the next six minutes, LBJ scored all but two of the Cavs’ 15 points, and the other two he facilitated on a terrific lob to TT. He made long twos, running banks, a three, and one up and under layup move that looked practically Jordan-esque. Even despite a three from old pal CJ Miles, LeBron still found a way to will the ball into the basket on the next possession to give the Cavs a one point lead.

In true playoff-style basketball fashion, nobody scored another field goal in the final two minutes. Both teams defended tooth and nail, with KLove pulling down a couple of the biggest rebounds of the game after missed Pacer shots. After the last one, the Pacers chose not to foul with a three second difference between shot and game clock. They got the play they wanted… a desperate perimeter heave from LBJ, but Shump tracked down the rebound and got it to JR. The Pacers had to foul and JR calmly sank both throws with one second left, leaving Indiana with a failed desperate in-bounds play to end it. Cavs win 95-92.

The Evil:

The Cavs defense was fairly solid for the most part, but there were some glaring breakdowns in the third when George Hill and Roy Hibbert abused the Cavs for 20 of the Pacers’ 31 points in the quarter. They did do a decent job on both David West (1-7 before he left due to illness) and Rodney Stuckey (who killed them the last game but was just 2-11 this game), but had trouble stopping their replacements Luis Scola (14 points, 11 boards) and CJ Watson (nine points, five assists, five boards).

The Cavs didn’t move the ball like they did against teams like the Nets. They still have a tendency to stagnate a bit and not share the ball against good defensive teams like the Pacers. They also seemed to abandon their early approach of attacking the basket, especially in the middle quarters.

Kyrie had a bad game by his standards. He didn’t shoot well from distance (1-4 from three), but he also had some tough luck on a few close ones (4-16 overall). The Pacers decided to hound him on offense and really make him work to fight through screens on defense. They also got him into foul trouble, and never let him get into a good groove on the distribution side of things. He seemed a little worn down post-game, so maybe he’s catching whatever Bron has.

Tristan was also plagued by foul trouble, which is probably why we were finally treated to a decent helping of giant Russian in the fourth quarter. Hibbert is one of those few really BIG men that TT has trouble with. It was good to see Blatt go longer with Timo (34 minutes) and get good production.

Head colds suck. Fortunately, guys like LBJ can fight through them and still deliver transcendent fourth quarter performances.

The Genius:

It’s hard enough to do a desk job with a bad head cold, let alone play a meaningful NBA game and carry your team in the fourth quarter. LBJ displayed a brilliant array of moves and skill while scoring or assisting on 15 of the Cavs final 17 points for the game. Mark him down for 29 points on 50% shooting, with seven boards and five assists in 39 grueling minutes of a game that was too important for him to miss.

Moz was terrific. He continues to run the floor like a giant wild animal, and throw down oops and dunks with abandon. At one point, Fred remarked that he was tied now with DeAndre Jordan on lob dunks in 2015 (since January)… that’s pretty impressive. He got some extended playing time tonight, and did a decent job of taking it to Hibbert.

The starters all once again were balanced, scoring in double digits.

KLove had a fairly quiet scoring game (11 points), but came up with some gigantic rebounds in the fourth quarter that effectively helped save the game. He displayed some gritty defense in the first and fourth quarters, even if he did have a few lapses in the third.

JR hit some timely shots and both he and Shump combined to play some tough D when the Cavs needed it most. Shump was the primary reason that Stuckey didn’t go off.

Delly had one of his best games as a Cav. His triple spree was close to an out-of-body experience, and if that last heat check three had fallen, the roof might have blown off of the Q. He had stretches in both the third and fourth quarters where he not only kept the Cavs in the game, but brought them back or extended their lead. After the game, Blatt and his teammates couldn’t say enough great things about the Aussie. If he can hit that three with any regularity in the playoffs, he will more than earn his keep.

It was good to see Blatt incorporate both Moz and KLove more in the fourth quarter. He got a big three out of JFJ, but didn’t stick with him too long because of the matchup which was smart. His rotations were good, and I liked little things like putting Moz on the inbounder on that last possession to deny the Pacers a desperation heave (which upon further review was LeBron’s idea, but at least he agreed and implemented it). Congrats Coach! You made it to the playoffs!

And last, but not by any stretch least… the Cavs CLINCHED a playoff spot! It might be old hat to guys like LBJ, but there are a few guys on this team who will now get their first taste of the postseason.

“It’s a huge accomplishment for our team. For me, I don’t look too far into it. But for our team, for the guys that have never been in the postseason, I don’t think they should take that for granted. It’s a huge thing for those guys, and I’m happy I was able to be a part of it.” — LeBron James

“It feels good. I’m sure Kyrie, Dellavedova and Tristan all said the same thing. We still have a lot of work to do.” — Kevin Love

“Us making the playoffs for the first time is an awesome thing. I can’t wait for them.” — Kyrie Irving

And, on a personal note… it was awesome to finally recap a Cavalier victory. Go Cavs!