Playoff Recap: Pacers 121, Cavs 87 (Or, The Beginning Of The End?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQatPQ_ipGw

It was Deja Vu all over again. LeBron James came to Bankers Life Fieldhouse hoping to eliminate the Indiana Pacers from the postseason for the fifth time in seven seasons. While the Cavaliers had won an NBA-record 13 straight playoff series-clinching games, this Cavaliers team was far different from the ones we’ve seen the last few seasons. There is no “Big Three,” and with Kevin Love struggling on offense throughout the series, the Cavaliers don’t even have a Dynamic Duo right now. With George Hill missing his third straight game with back issues, the Cavaliers had a tough task trying to close out this series on the road. Unfortunately, as has been the case lately when a challenge presents itself, the Cavaliers simply weren’t up to it.

First Quarter

The game started with Bojan Bogdanovic wrapping his arms around the neck of a driving James, but for some reason, only a common foul was called. James continuously tried to find shooters in transtion, while the Pacers focused on attacking the basket. Kyle Korver and JR Smith were hot early, as each man hit first two threes of the game, while Kevin Love continued to struggle from all over the floor. The Pacers’ scoring was even distributed as all of the starters outside of Bogdanovic got into the action. Unlike previous games, the Cavs were hot from three, starting the game 6-for-8 from deep as James and Love each connected as part of an 8-0 run. Indiana countered by getting out in transition after Cavalier misses. After struggling the past three games, Victor Oladipo found his shot, going 6-for-8 from the field for 15 points in the first quarter alone. The lead changed several times, and the quarter ended with the Pacers leading 29-26.

Second Quarter

It’s never ideal when the Cavaliers are trailing as LeBron James heads to the bench for rest, but Rodney Hood and Kevin Love canned a pair of jumpers to regain the lead. Unfortunately for the Cavs, it was time for a good Lance Stephenson performance, as he canned a pair of jumpers to put the Pacers back on top. Love fell on a drive to the basket, and seemed to re-injure his left thumb, and Pacers went on an 8-2 run to take a ten-point lead. Rodney Hood was terrible defensively, with several terrible fouls that helped the Pacers keep the momentum. The rest of the Cavaliers weren’t much better, as the Pacers continually got to the basket where they either scored or drew the foul. James began to try to put the Cavs on his shoulders, but was cut open by a Thaddeus Young elbow to the face, proving the LeBron can bleed. Hilariously, no foul was called again, and the Cavs had to force a shot before the violation. The Cavs began to attack the basket more, and a dunk by Nance followed by a pair of free throws by James began to close the gap. The Pacers came right back with a three by Darren Collison and a jumper by Bogdanovic put the Pacers up by ten going into the half. Considering the Pacers went into the half shooting 56% from the floor and 43% from three, while the Cavs had eight turnovers, it was a miracle Cleveland was only down ten.

Third Quarter

This is going to sound terrible, but Kevin Love single-handedly put the game out of the Cavaliers’ reach with a sequence of plays to start the second half. After giving up a bucket to Myles Turner, Love missed a three, that was quickly followed up by an Oladip three on the other end. Meanwhile, the Cavs went scoreless over the first 2:30 of the quarter as the Pacers’ lead swelled to 15. Love was then elbowed in the face by Turner, and was checked by the training staff after being replaced by Tristan Thompson. While Thompson scored quickly, and set a terrific screen that led to a jumper by James, the overall energy from the Cavaliers was terrible as they fell down 20 after a Turner three. Soon, the deficit was 25, and at this point, it was just a matter of time until the seconds ticked off the clock and the series returned to Cleveland for the first Game Seven of the first round of LeBron James’s career.

Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter was little more than a formality, and the only positive was that James was able to sit and rest the whole time. Because of this, I’m going to pose a question to the Cavs: The Blog community. Why, if you were LeBron James, would you stay with the Cavaliers? Kyrie Irving is gone, Kevin Love is injury-prone to say the least, and the rest of the roster is either past their prime (JR, Calderon, Korver, Hill, possibly Tristan) or not the type of player you want to rely on in the playoffs (Green, Hood, Clarkson). I truly believe that James would like the Cavs to give him reasons to feel he can still contend for a title here, but the truth is, in the last year they’ve done just the opposite. A rookie lottery pick isn’t going to do it either. To be honest, I’ve already come to accept James leaving in my head, but I’d like to hear reasons otherwise. Oh yeah, and the Cavs lost by a final score of 121 to 87 after being outscored by 24 points in the second half alone.

Things I Noticed

I’ll be writing about this more in the future, but anyone who claims that Hill is “soft” or doesn’t care about the Pacers has never tried to do a sport with a serious injury. Hill has been in the playoffs plenty of times in his career, but never had the kind of opportunity that he does playing alongside LeBron James. Considering time with the Pacers, it’s hard to imagine that Hill would sit against his old team unless he absolutely couldn’t play. Hill hadn’t been great in this series, but he’s the kind of player who always does the little things and isn’t scared of the moment. Hopefully, he will be back the next game.

On a similar note, Kevin Love’s thumb seems to be having a significant affect on his offense in this series, and there’s not much he can do about it. You can’t just un-tear a ligament. That being said, it’s also fair to say that Love is in his own head right now. It was interesting that on the eve of this series, Love was the only person to admit the Cavs would miss Kyrie’s offense during the playoffs. While true, it was surprising to hear that come from the man who was expected to shoulder much of that offensive load. Love’s confidence has always been fickle, but right now it seems nonexistent.

After abandoning it early in Game Five, the Cavaliers went back to constantly switching on defense. This allowed the Pacers to score at the rim rather easily as they were constantly able to get the mismatch they wanted. The Cavs were much better defensively when they dropped back to prevent the Pacers from getting easy drives and cuts to the basket. I’m a Ty Lue fan, but he has been severely out coached in this series in terms of in-game adjustments.

The officiating of LeBron James is officially—get it?—a problem. The play by Bogdanovic should’ve been a flagrant foul, but it wasn’t even reviewed. Then a Thaddeus Young elbow busts James open, but no foul is called. Last time I checked, people don’t just start spontaneously bleeding from the side of their head. The officiating for James is the worst it’s been for any player since Shaquille O’Neal, another player who was simply much stronger than anyone else. It’s well past time for officials to figure this out.

Jeff Green had a surprisingly decent season for the Cavs, but he simply isn’t the kind of player you want to rely on in the playoffs. His weaknesses are too easy to exploit. There isn’t much else to say here.

The Cavaliers will be back at it on Sunday for Game Seven at the Q. Hopefully we don’t see LeBron James exit the playoffs in the first-round for the first time in his career, and then exit Cleveland for the second time.