Grades: Indiana Pacers get hollow revenge against Cleveland Cavaliers
By Ryan Eggers
The Indiana Pacers got a bit of too-late revenge against the LeBron-less Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, winning their preseason matchup 111-102.
The Indiana Pacers won a game of preseason basketball tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers. In a Game 8 of last season’s first-round matchup that no one asked for, the Pacers came out in droves, building up a large lead by halftime. The team meshed together well, and lots of new faces made an impact on the evening. A late comeback from the Cavaliers was discouraging but didn’t amount to anything, as the Pacers held on to grab their second win of the pre-season.
156. 111. 100. Final. 102
The Good: The team’s chemistry is coming together quite nicely – the starters still got it. Edmond Sumner is still out to impress this preseason. Victor Oladipo woke up this morning and was Victor Oladipo.
The Bad: The game was essentially put away before the fourth quarter began and some lazy defense (along with some admittedly lucky three-bombs from Cleveland) brought the Cavaliers right back into it. It’s preseason, sure, but it’s never a good sign to see 20-point leads brought to single digits in the second half.
MVP: The sun rises from the east and sets in the west, Indiana potholes multiply like bunnies, and Victor Oladipo is this game’s MVP. You can basically just copy and paste this into most of the post-game grades this year.
LVP: Everyone at home who was forced to watch that Baylor-Kansas replay instead of the first quarter of this game. Fox Sports still shaking off the offseason rust.
X-Factor: Edmond Sumner has made a name for himself this preseason. 14 points, 3 assists and 3 steals in only 18 minutes of action, and he’s consistently getting to the rim at an elite level. Sorry, Aaron Holiday.
DARREN COLLISON. B -. A classic Darren Collison game. Didn’t really notice him much on the court, but stuffed the stat sheet with four assists and four steals. He hasn’t made a three yet this preseason though, reminding us that his insane 3P% last year is not sustainable.. PG. Indiana Pacers
A. 23-6-3-2 in 28 minutes. So far, so good for the “Victor has reached even <em>another </em>level” soundbite that’s circulated all offseason.. SG. Indiana Pacers. VICTOR OLADIPO
BOJAN BOGDANOVIC. C +. The stat sheet was not kind to Bogey tonight, though he did make a lot of the right plays, setting good enough screens and getting open looks. His shot wasn’t falling, but his impact wasn’t totally lost in the box score, as he had a team-high +16 for the game.. SF. Indiana Pacers
B. Myles still hasn’t hit a three this preseason, but came through in a big way in other facets of the game, as well as making several highlight blocks throughout the evening. 8 points in 26 minutes isn’t what you want out of him, but he was definitely a presence on the floor tonight.. C. Indiana Pacers. MYLES TURNER
Indiana Pacers. DOMANTAS SABONIS. A -. Another day, another double-double for Sabonis. It’s like clockwork at this point. There was a brief moment where it looked like Nate was going to experiment with Myles and Domas on the court, but it lasted a mere two minutes (the Pacers did win those 2 minutes though).. C
TYREKE EVANS. B +. Tyreke was finally able to get comfortable meshing with the starters, and it showed with quite a few lovely offensive possessions on the night. He’s done an excellent job establishing pace when he’s the primary ballhandler.. SG. Indiana Pacers
DOUG MCDERMOTT. B -. Doug made some shots! Woo! Tonight was probably the closest we’ve seen to a typical Dougie night. He’ll make a few threes, keep things spaced for the second unit, but probably won’t pop off for huge chunks of points. He had a nice highlight block tonight, though.. SF. Indiana Pacers
C. Indiana Pacers. KYLE O'QUINN. C. Didn’t get a lot of burn, and didn’t get a lot going when he was in action. I don’t want him destroying my curve though, so he gets a solid C.
B +. On this week’s episode of “Is TJ Leaf an NBA player?”, sources from the Cavs game say: maybe. He looked good again once tonight with a 13-6 stat line, throwing in a couple of his classic random second chance layups. He even knocked down a three for good measure.. PF. Indiana Pacers. TJ LEAF
:(. Holiday probably wasn’t having a lot of fun watching Sumner go off while he sat on the bench. Not even factoring in the CoJo that stands in front of him, Holiday is not going to have an easy time making it onto the floor this year.. PG. Indiana Pacers. AARON HOLIDAY
IKE ANIGBOGU. N/A. Healthy scratch. yIKEs.. C. Indiana Pacers
Indiana Pacers. ALIZE JOHNSON. N/A. If Alize got a dollar every time an announcer pronounced his name wrong, he’d usually be pretty rich, but he would’ve made no money tonight as he was a healthy scratch.. PF
Indiana Pacers. EDMOND SUMNER. A. The man of the preseason. One more performance like this and the Pacers will have to think long and hard about converting his two-way deal to an NBA contract.. PG
N/A. More like Ben Less, am I right? Cuz he didn’t get any playing time? Is anyone still out there? Hello?. SF. Indiana Pacers. BEN MOORE
OMARI JOHNSON. N/A. Did you know that when you get a kidney transplant, they typically leave the “bad” one where it is and simply put a third one in your pelvis? Also Omari Johnson didn’t play tonight.. PF. Indiana Pacers
ELIJAH STEWART. N/A. I’m out of material. Karen left me because I was always trying to be a comedian. Elijah Stewart didn’t play tonight, by the way.. SG. Indiana Pacers
The Pacers take on the Bulls this Wednesday for their final preseason action of the season before kicking things off a week later against the Grizzlies.