Game 2 Grades: Cavaliers survive Pacers, 100-97
After a LeBron James onslaught to open the game, the Pacers outscored Cleveland 79-67 the rest of the way. It wasn’t enough.
There was something I discovered about halfway into LeBron’s domination of the first quarter (he scored 20 of Cleveland’s 33, and all of Cleveland’s first 16) and that important incontrovertible truth was this: fried biscuits and apple butter are really, really, really good.
Now, what does that have to do with basketball? Um, nothing. Except when one team is so viscerally obliterating the team that you cover/love, you gotta lean on something.
On Wednesday night, I leaned on fried biscuits and apple butter. It’s a stall tactic, I’ll admit, because if you’ve watched this Pacer team for more than a couple games, you’ll know that they are never out. They weren’t out when they trailed Cleveland 22-4 with 6 minutes left in the first, even though things looked bleak.
They weren’t out in Game 2.
The Pacers lost by three. They took the heaviest punch from the league’s heaviest weight (LeBron James) and they lost by three, on the road, in a game that Cleveland had to win. That bodes well for Indiana going forward. They lost, but that is a pleasant sign.
Victor Oladipo missed the vast majority of the entire first half and Indiana lost by only three. LeBron played like a demigod and the Pacers lost by only three. What else can Cleveland do to shake the unflappable Pacers? I don’t know. If this was Cleveland’s best effort, two facts remain. One, even with the game two loss, the Pacers have stolen the homecourt advantage; and two: fried biscuits and apple butter are really, really good.
The Good: The final three quarters. Indiana has no quit. Game one was the inverse of game two, the Pacers lurched out to a huge lead, Cleveland made two charges and got blown out. The difference in game two was that Indy didn’t get blown out. Indy kept battling, Victor Oladipo even had an open three to tie the game with 27.5 seconds left, which he missed. But just to be in a position to attempt that shot speaks well to the character of this team.
The Bad: Turnovers. Indy had 17, the Pacers averaged a shade over 13. That’s four more than the Pacers usually have. Unacceptable in a game of this magnitude.
MVP: Oladipo. It wasn’t a tour de force like Game 1 was. But the game shifts whenever Oladipo is on the floor, his impact literally cancels out LeBron’s, which sounded like a fantasy before this series, but has been proven true. Whenever Vic is on the floor, Indy looks like the better team, unless LeBron has an ultra-human performance.
LVP: Lance was pretty terrible in game 2, but had some decent minutes late. I’ve about had it with LeBron’s habitual flopping, I don’t know if that qualifies for this section, but I don’t care. The first three-quarters of Lance, and whenever LeBron either (A) transforms into tissue paper in the wind when he’s bumped or (B) outright shoves Lance and gets away with it, there’s your LVP.
X-Factor: Something got into Myles Turner. 18 and 5 isn’t something you want to magnetize to the refrigerator, but Turner’s showed up this series, and the Pacers are going to be much, much better because of it.
This will be fun: it’s on to Indianapolis. I think it will be fair to say that the Fieldhouse will be rocking at 7 p.m. on Friday evening. Game 4 is Sunday and Game 5, which is now necessary, is next Wednesday the 25th.