8 points, 9 seconds
Fansided

Indiana Pacers win streak ends at the hands of… the Cleveland Cavaliers?

By Ben Gibson

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lol The Indiana Pacers didn’t bother to put in enough effort and lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The loss snaps their winning streak at seven.

If you need musical accompaniment for this inexcusable Indiana Pacers loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, follow the link back there. It’s probably better to have it playing because the words here won’t offer you any comfort, so perhaps a sad song will.

The Cavaliers didn’t even play well, the Pacers just played worse. Cleveland shot 41.3 percent from the floor and 19.4 percent from deep. Indiana beat those marks with a 39.8 field goal percentage and (blink) 18.2 from beyond the arc.

Pathetic effort offensively for Indiana. They were lifeless and rarely showed off the ball movement and proficiency that powered the seven-game streak the Kevin Love-less Cavaliers just snapped.

If the goal was to save energy for tonight’s game against the Toronto Raptors, then they should have plenty.

92. 156. 91. 100. Final

What was the Indiana Pacers problem?

As coach Nate McMillan might say, they f’d with the game. Indiana didn’t take the Cavaliers seriously, so a few missed free throws let the Cleveland stay within striking distance.

Did Larry Nance push Victor Oladipo out of the way? Yes. But Victor missed his chances to put two or three points of distance between the two teams. Oladipo admitted he must do better in situations like this so that a missed call doesn’t bite them.

It wasn’t just Oladipo that struggled at the foul line. The Pacers combined for a 13 of 21 (61.9 percent) performance on free throws.

In a game where Indiana saw six of their players score a dozen points or more, their lack of enthusiasm let a clearly inferior team beat them. This was clearly their worse loss of the season.

Indiana Pacers. DARREN COLLISON. D+. 5 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists for Darren Collison. His 33.3 percent field goal percentage was somehow best among the teams guards.. PG

F. Oladipo went 4 of 15 (26.7 percent) from the field to end the game with 12 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. While he a most of the starters ended the game with a positive +/-, their lack of effort in closing out Cleveland only showed up in the final score.. SG. Indiana Pacers. VICTOR OLADIPO

D+. None of his 14 points came off 3-pointers, ending his season long streak.. SF. Indiana Pacers. BOJAN BOGDANOVIC

PF. Indiana Pacers. THADDEUS YOUNG. D+. Thaddeus Young came up short of a double-double with 13 points and 9 rebounds.

A double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, but outside of that and his 4 blocks, it’s hard to find anything good to say. Well, he was the only one of two players that shot 50 percent or better.. C. Indiana Pacers. MYLES TURNER. D+

Indiana Pacers. DOMANTAS SABONIS. C-. 17 points and 8 rebounds for Domantas Sabonis off the bench. His defense was lackluster but he made up for it in his usual ways. Still, being the best player on a night like this is a low bar to clear.. C

Indiana Pacers. TYREKE EVANS. F-. 4 points on 2 of 9 shooting. This is getting ugly.. SG

Indiana Pacers. CORY JOSEPH. F. Usually, it’s rebounds or assists that make chasing a double-double hard, but 9 rebounds were the easy part for Cory Joseph while he only had 2 points thanks to a 1 of 6 night, and no appearances on the foul line.. PG

SF. Indiana Pacers. DOUG MCDERMOTT. C+. A great dunk and a pair of 3-pointers supported a 12 point effort for McDermott. He did what he needed to do.

Next. Pacers adding Kelly Krauskopf to the front office. dark

The Pacers face the Raptors tonight at 7 p.m.

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