INDIANAPOLIS: It is a scenario the Cavaliers hope they rarely face, especially in the postseason, but a hurdle to overcome nonetheless.
Playing without LeBron James has been a struggle for the Cavs and that didn’t change Wednesday night as the Indiana Pacers rolled to a 123-109 victory in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue decided to rest James on the second night of a back-to-back to give him a three-day break before Saturday’s game in Chicago. Lue thought his team was up for the challenge, but saw it fall to 1-4 without James this season and to 4-14 over two campaigns.
“We’ve been playing great basketball. This will be a good test for us,” Lue said before the game.
His grades will be brutal. Lue wanted the Cavs to focus on defense against the Pacers, and that was an abject failure.
“That’s been the biggest key for us, bear down and really focus. We’ve been doing a good job of it, [so] let’s not let up tonight,” Lue said.
The Cavs gave up 70 points in the first half, matched by Golden State on Jan. 18 as the most the Cavs have allowed in that half this season.
The Pacers, who could be the Cavs’ first-round Eastern Conference playoff opponent, shot 62 percent from the field in the first 24 minutes and 54 percent from 3-point range. The Cavs defenders fared only slightly better after the break, with the Pacers finishing at 56.3 percent shooting, including 51.6 percent on 3s.
A perfect example of the Cavs’ problems was Pacer reserve C.J. Miles, an ex-Cav, who pitched in 21 points and hit 6-of-8 from beyond the arc.
Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving led the way for the Cavs. Irving scored 26 points and handed out six assists, while Love scored 23 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Irving had scored 31 points the last time James was a healthy scratch, that on March 29 against the Houston Rockets.
The Cavs came in with a four-game winning streak and had won five of their last six. Another goal was to maintain momentum that had been built over the past two weeks, when the Cavs have started to click at both ends of the floor and their confidence had skyrocketed.
But the ball movement that has been so crucial evaporated with James on the bench. In the previous four games, the Cavs had averaged 30 assists on 40.8 made field goals. On Wednesday, they totaled 15 assists on 35 field goals.
Only three regular-season games remain with the Cavs (56-23) still seeking to lock down the conference’s No. 1 seed.
In the second quarter, the Pacers bench asserted itself against the Cavs second unit and opened up a 14-point lead that eventually stretched to 19 in the second half.
During a crucial 15-6 Pacers run in the second period, the Cavs attempted to get the ball inside to Tristan Thompson, resulting in multiple turnovers. It was tough going inside even for the Cavs starters.
The Pacers (42-36) finished with a 46-32 edge in points in the paint. Virtually the Cavs’ only offensive force inside was Love, who made the Pacers pay by going 10-for-10 at the free throw line when he got his touches down low.
Before the game, James Jones realized the hump the Cavs needed to get over in playing without James.
“Every opportunity is a chance for us to be autonomous and stand on our own two feet,” Jones said. “He’s the centerpiece of everything we do, he affects every facet of the game for us. You take him out, you don’t just take out one player, you take out a significant chunk of our overall game plan.
“You can’t just take him for granted. Sometimes fatigue, fouls, those things may come into play and we have to be confident in each other, in ourselves, that we can withstand a stint without him at the helm.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.