No LeBron James or J.R. Smith, but the Indiana Pacers put together a solid game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and picked up the win.
The Good: While LeBron James took the night off — as well as J.R. Smith — the Cleveland Cavaliers are a deep team that still had Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving on the floor. With that in mind, picking up a win against the Cavaliers in these circumstances is still impressive. It doesn’t have the luster of a full-squad win, but considering the Indiana Pacers’ struggles this season, getting the win tonight was important.
The defense showed up for a second straight game, holding Cleveland to 40.7% shooting from the field and 36.7% from deep.
Perhaps it isn’t foolish to be optimistic about this team.
The Bad: If you bought tickets hoping to see LeBron James, you probably weren’t happy that LBJ sat out.
MVP: He didn’t have to contain LeBron James tonight but that allowed him to put his energies elsewhere. The Pacers were always maintaining and building a lead with him on the floor and for what it is worth, he finished the night with a +/- of +24.
Surprisingly, this was his first double-double performance of the season as he ended the night with 21 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists. PG had two near-misses with 9 rebounds earlier this season and he’s averaging 21 points and 6.6 rebounds a game.
X-Factor: Jeff Teague’s 20 points and 8 assists kept the Pacers humming along smoothly. Teague shot 7 of 12 from the floor and 2 of 4 from 3-point range while keeping his assists down to only two. After a slow start to the season, Teague is looking like the player Indiana hoped they traded for when they send George Hill packing this offseason.