Weekday, weekend – it’s never an easy day at the office against the Pacers. The Cavaliers won their sixth straight on Sunday, but Indiana made them work for it.
But after 15 ties and 21 lead-changes, the Wine and Gold weathered the storm – sealing the win with a pair of perfect passes from LeBron James to Kevin Love to pull out the 101-97 victory on Sunday afternoon at The Q.
James and Love combined for 51 of Cleveland’s 101 points to keep the win streak alive. LeBron followed his 31-point performance from Friday night with 29 more on Sunday – going 10-of-23 from the floor, adding six boards and four assists – including two helpers in the final 27 seconds to ice the victory.
With 44 seconds remaining, Indy’s Monta Ellis canned a pair of free throws to get the Pacers to within three, 95-92. But after a timeout, the Cavaliers ran through a well-designed play that saw Love flash open on the baseline. LeBron found him for the layup to give Cleveland a two-possession edge.
But on the Pacers’ next possession, Paul George canned a three-pointer to get Indiana back to within a deuce. The Pacers tried to press Cleveland in the backcourt, but in-bounded the ball to Matthew Dellavedova, who fed ahead the timeline to LeBron, who fired the ball to an awaiting Love, who threw down the dunk with 8.2. to play that put the Wine and Gold up four.
Love overcame a cool-shooting first half – hitting just one of six attempts before intermission – to finish with 22 points and a season-high 19 boards, doubling up for the third straight game (and fifth time this season) after going 8-of-12 from the floor in the second stanza.
Love’s backup, Tristan Thompson, was almost as good on Sunday evening – finishing with a season-high 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting, grabbing eight boards to go with a pair of steals. Thompson, the top rebounding reserve in the NBA, has grabbed at least eight rebounds in every game this season and on Sunday, passed Phil Hubbard for 7th place on Cleveland’s all-time offensive rebounding list.
Mo Williams rounded out the Cavaliers in double-figures, finishing with 10 points and eight assists. His backup, Dellavedova, led both squad with nine assists in the victory – adding five points and a steal.
The Cavaliers out-rebounded the Pacers, 48-47, and handed out 25 assists to Indy’s 22. Cleveland has topped its opponent in both categories in each of their first seven games this season.
Turning Point – In a back-and-forth affair like Sunday afternoon’s, the game didn’t ebb one way or the other until the closing seconds.
The Cavaliers had a chance to open up the affair late in the third quarter – nursing an 11-point lead with 3:25 to play in the period. But treys by Chase Budinger and Paul George propelled a 13-3 Pacers run and the Wine and Gold went into the final quarter ahead by just a point.
Cleveland build a nine-point lead in the fourth, but the Pacers again fought back – using a 13-4 run to tie the game at 90-apiece with 3:47 to play. But Tristan Thompson gave the Cavaliers a two-point lead on the next possession and David Blatt’s squad didn’t trail the rest of the way.
By the Numbers – 26-13 … bench scoring for both teams, with Cleveland’s reserves doubling Indiana’s production. So far this season, the Cavaliers are 5-0 when outscoring their opponent’s bench.
Quotable – Coach David Blatt, on Timofey Mozgov’s two three-point attempts on Sunday …
” When I had (Timo) on the Russian national team, he never, EVER thought to shoot a three-point shot – let alone tell the coach that he’s a three-point shooter. Isn’t it interesting how people change when they find themselves in a different environment? We ran a set in Memphis at the end of the half in the corner free. And I’ve been telling him: ‘Timo, if you make the first one, you can take another one. And if you miss it, you can’t.’ Well, he made the first one, so he got a second look. And fortunately he didn’t go beyond that – he was smart, he didn’t get greedy. He took one, he missed one. Now we can start all over again.”
Up Next – After winning three of their first four games on the mini-homestand, the Wine and Gold close out the four-gamer on Tuesday night when Quinn Snyder’s Jazz come to The Q. Following Tuesday’s matchup, the Cavs hit the road for the next three – beginning with a weekend back-to-back, against the Knicks in New York on Friday before taking on the young Bucks the following night in Milwaukee. The Cavaliers round out the roadie next Tuesday night when they travel to the Motor City for their first meeting of the year with the Pistons.
