Post-Game Grades: Pacers Can’t Get a Bucket Late, Fall to Cavs

The Good: The tenacity of the Indiana Pacers and, more specifically, George Hill. They came out of the locker room lifeless after the halftime break. Even without LeBron on the floor (illness or something), the Cleveland Cavaliers started to pull away. But Indiana kept pushing, mounted an 11-0 run then took the lead and it was neck and neck until the final buzzer.

The Bad: The end game. Indiana was down 1 with 30 seconds left. They opted for a quick shot to get the two-for-one opportunity, which is fine, but (a) they missed the first look, (b) couldn’t get a stop on the other end after Cleveland grabbed an offensive board, and (c) only had 1 second left, down 3, to heave a desperation 3-point attempt at the rim.

MVP: LeBron James. He was sick and didn’t do much God Mode stuff early on, but he took over down the stretch and started making people look silly with ball fakes, scooping drives, and buckets. It took him 23 shots to score 29 points, but it was his individual talent that helped Cleveland come out with a win even on a night when Kyrie Irving was borderline trash.

LVP: Kyrie Irving. He was borderline trash.

X Factor: Turnovers. The Pacers only committed 2 turnovers in the third quarter as they started to flex their muscles and finished the game with just 9.

Indiana Pacers

92

Final Recap | Box Score

95

Cleveland Cavaliers

David West, PF 12 MIN | 1-7 FG | 0-0 FT | 4 REB | 2 AST | 1 STL | 1 BLK | 0 TO | 2 PTS | -19 +/-

Not good at all, got in foul trouble, then left with illness (Brickitis?) not to return.

He needs to start scoring at least some points.

Got beat on early by Mozgov but got it all back and then some. Getting them backpacks.

IUPUI Mode (c) Quinn Bucker, all rights reserved

Made a big 3 late off a sweet set play by Frank Vogel and had a big dunk out of nowhere. He’s a streaky guy, so it’s expected. But could have used a couple more makes early on to diversify the attack and keep the team from playing from behind for the first 30 minutes.

The most reliable producer these days, Rodney Stuckey notwithstanding.

Got a bit of run due to foul trouble and West’s ailment.

Played some good D on LeBron and hit 2-of-3 of his long balls. That’s his job.

Heinous really. Maybe his worst game of the year. Think he had 3 fouls in his first 4 minutes.

This was clearly his twin brother Sodney Ruckey.