CLEVELAND, Ohio – Head coach JB Bickerstaff’s prompting the Cleveland Cavaliers to finish the first half of the schedule strongly.
On the contrary. The Cavs led by 19 points in the third quarter and lost Wednesday night to the Indiana Pacers, 114-111. The loss temporarily lost a four-game winning streak and temporarily halted the positive momentum they had worked so hard to build in the All-Star break.
The midfield finals are usually a bit silly. This was no exception. Where do we start?
Cleveland, who finished 29th in the game, committed a staggering 19 of them during a sloppy first half with busy decisions, lazy passes and silly mistakes. Indiana has turned these crimes into 28 points, accounting for more than half of its production. And yet the Cavs still led in some way through 10 points entering the locker room.
“I thought they were extremely aggressive,” Bickerstaff said after the loss. “It was not difficult, it was pretty simple going on, but we did not respond enough to the pressure.”
The Cavs better protected the ball in the second half. Just not their lead. The Pacers outscored the Cavs 63-50 in the last 24 minutes, shooting 56.6% off the field. The game turned around when Darius Garland, the second-year point guard, left with a tense left groin around the seven-minute mark of the third quarter. At that point, the Cavs led by 17. Cleveland was outscored 54-34 after the injury, with Garland looking helpless from the bench.
‘Darius is a witch playmaker. He is a guy that teams have to worry about themselves as well as scoring and also to improve his teammates, ”said Bickerstaff. ‘He was one of our primary ball handlers and playmakers, and without him it just got a little harder and they could of course concentrate on Collin (Sexton) and send several corpses to him. I think we missed Darius a lot. ”
Sexton’s game 3 with less than 10 seconds left was still long and although Dylan Windler was able to collect the offensive rebound and hold a one-possession game, the Pacers made some free throws before the ensuing full-course incoming pass had the final second selected away.
Sexton scored the team’s first double-double in a single half since LeBron James on February 7, 2018. Sexton’s 10 assistants in the first half, the same number he finished with, were the most in the half since James the same year. Sexton also added a game-high 32 points on 12-of-25 from the field and 2-out-5 from the three-point series.
Dean Wade, taking his fifth consecutive start, added 17 points and six rebounds. Jarrett Allen scored another double double and scored 17 points with 11 rebounds. Garland beat 16 points and five assists within 19 minutes of his injury.
Indiana’s TJ McConnell set an NBA record with nine steals in half. He finishes with ten swipes, one away from matching the single record. It was part of a point-by-steal three-pointer for McConnell, whose final deflection led to another empty possession from Cleveland and a run-off from the Pacers, who pushed the lead to four by about a minute. to go.
“He deserved it, I give it to him. This is who he is all the time. “It’s clear that the triple double is not … the steal and the assists and the points for him, but he’s a plague all the time, ‘Bickerstaff said of Indiana’s back guard. “He’s always been a big competitor. He falls from no one. He pushes everyone. We allowed him to have that impact. ”
For much of the night, it looked like Bickerstaff would get what he wanted: The Cavs build on their improved play in the previous four games – forty-eight minutes of connected team ball that they have penetrated at halftime. Instead, the first half ends with a missed opportunity.
“It’s hard. But it makes it a lot harder to beat yourself up instead of playing, ” Wade said. ‘Just mental mistakes. One of my turnover was the beginning of it, especially in the fourth quarter, so I will take the blame on that one. It is very disappointing to just shoot ourselves in the foot. ”
They will have nine long days to regroup.
Special gas
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski was one of the fans at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Wednesday night. Stefanski, the NFL’s coach of the year, appeared on the video board in the first quarter and received loud applause.
Following
The Cavs are on their way to the All-Star break. They will return on March 12, the start of a three-way trip against the New Orleans Pelicans. Tipoff is set for 20:00
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