Recap: Pacers 119, Cavs 107 (Or, Lue the Pumpkin Smasher)

Remember those days when you were young when you started to see pumpkins in front of doors and houses as your neighbors prepared for their Halloween festivities? Remember the one kid who always thought it was a good idea to go around and smash a few of those pumpkins? We all know that smashing pumpkins is a bad idea. It’s mean and it ruins children’s days and wastes the hard earned money spent on those pumpkins. It also makes a big mess. Yet, somehow, we do it anyways. We do it because we’re young and impressionable and, well, the leader of the group said it was a good idea and he’s pretty cool so you want to be cool, too. It’s not cool, it’s mean and wasteful. Tyronn Lue is that one kid who thinks it’s a good idea to smash pumpkins.

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Indiana Pacers 119 to 107 in what looked like any one of the first five losses of the season. There was almost too much wrong to count, alas, I’ll try to point out all of the mistakes and the few bright spots. The Cavs were without Kevin Love for the second straight game due to foot soreness so Tyronn Lue started everyone’s favorite backup power forward Sam Dekker in his place. Lue also started Tristan Thompson over Larry Nance Jr. and rounded out the starting lineup with frequent fliers Cedi Osman, Rodney Hood, and George Hill. As soon as I saw who was starting I audibly groaned. Lue wore his pumpkin smashing pants to the game and we all knew what was coming. Mischief and messes.

To the Cavs credit, this one started out like many of the ones before it. Cleveland kept it close throughout the first quarter despite the deluge of mid range madness. Hood started the game with a nice steal but proceeded to jack up two of those mid rangers in his first two shots. Meanwhile, the Pacers immediately started one-upping the Cavs matching long range twos with their own three point shots. Like, you know, any other modern NBA team. Luckily, Cleveland managed to hit a few threes of their own, one of the early ones from the hands of Cedi Osman, who finished the night with 10 points, 3 assists, 4 rebounds, and an unfortunate 6 turnovers. At the very least, the Cavs were moving bodies and playing with energy even though they were playing 4-5 on offense as TT managed to do nothing but rebound the countless Cleveland misses.

About halfway through the quarter Lue went to his bench and inserted David Nwaba who, wouldn’t you know it, started things off by canning a corner three from a Cedi Osman pass. Nwaba would only play 14 minutes because remember, Ty Lue is only out to smash our pumpkins, he’s not out there passing out king sized candy bars. The criminally underused Nwaba finished his 14 minutes with a team high +13. He had 7 points, a rebound, and a block. His stat line was modest but did you see that plus/minus? Plus 13 in only 14 minutes of play? It’s clear he’s able to impact the game in non-box score kind of way. The next closest plus/minus for the game was Zizic who was +3 but only played in garbage time. Can you see me rolling my eyes through your computer screen? We’ll get back to this later. Luckily, Korver and Nance entered the game in the first and it was clear that they have pretty great chemistry as the worked a nice pick and roll in the final minute of the quarter, see below. Despite some sloppy turnovers and poor perimeter defense (Pacers shot 3-5 from distance), the Cavs finished the quarter tied at 30.

The second quarter was good for about two and a half minutes as the Cavs were able to come out and create a six point lead off the back of Kyle Korver and a savvy JR Smith pump fake which drew three foul shots. Shortly after the game started to slip through their collective fingers as so many times before. Cleveland racked up 6 turnovers in the first 6 minutes of the second quarter and none of them were pretty. In addition to the sloppy play, the Cavs stopped rotating and playing with energy on the defensive end and by half time, they had given up 60 points and were down by five. 60-55, Pacers.

The third quarter was more of the same. When you don’t have an offensive system, you don’t cover the perimeter, and you don’t prevent easy drives to the hoop, the last thing you can afford as a basketball team is sloppy turnovers. The third quarter featured three more of them for Cleveland. I don’t know how many times I watched a Cavalier try to drive to the hoop and either straight up lose their dribble or have the ball poked out from behind. I watched every minute of the third, not even any bathroom breaks and I’m still not sure how it happened, but the Cavs actually managed to play the Pacers to a draw this quarter and finished still down five, 88-83 Pacers. Maybe it was this sweet look underneath by Nance to a waiting Hood for a jam.

The start of the fourth quarter is when things really started to go awry. Rookie point guard Collin Sexton started things off with a rookie mistake, fouling Doug McDermott on a three, he would make all three freebies. The Cavs stopped hitting shots and the Pacers started a layup line to the rim and by the 6:00 minute mark the Cavs were down 12 and the game was all but over. With 3:00 minutes to go and the Cavs down 113-98, the team’s pumpkin smashing leader finally decided to give Zizic a go and he was promptly fouled working for an offensive rebound. One would think that if you had an undersized center who’s contributions didn’t extend past offensive rebounds, you would want to use your center who is shooting 66% from the field. Unfortunately, Lue would rather waste all of our time and money and play the offensive black hole of Tristan Thompson. What a typical pumpkin smasher. The game never got much closer and the Pacers would finish this one out with a 119-107 win.

This one went about as I expected, my final score prediction was 123-108, so pretty close. There is just too much to overcome when you don’t shoot threes, you don’t guard the three, you don’t prevent easy drives to the hoop, and you produce countless turnovers. Cleveland ended the game with 15. That’s too many. The clock is ticking as the Cavs (and their fans) await their first win.

Some Notes:

1) Despite having an explosive fourth quarter the previous game against Detroit, veteran sharpshooter Kyle Korver did not receive very many sets designed to get him open looks on the perimeter. It’s irritating that the Cavs employ one of the best three point shooters of all time and they still can’t manufacture him easy shots from distance. That’s on Lue.

2) Cedi has been watching too much LeBron. Or maybe Lue has been pushing Cedi towards emulating the super star. Don’t get me wrong, this should be a good thing, and in a lot of ways, it is. But Osman is creating a lot of turnovers trying to make passes that aren’t there. As I was watching the young forward attempt to thread the needle or hit a shooter on the perimeter, it began to look like he was attempting to make passes he’d seen ‘Bron make, but that he didn’t have the strength to make himself. Cedi is good, very good, and I love watching him play. But he’s not going to be able to match possibly the best passing forward to ever play the game.

3) T-Rex arms Rodney Hood got a block. No, really, you read that right. He also hit only his second three pointer of the season. That’s not going to work.

As always, Go Cavs!