Streaky Cavs hold on for Game Two win over Pacers

Photo Credit: Cleveland Plain Dealer

The Cleveland Cavaliers blasted out of the gate in the first quarter that left the Indiana Pacers wobbling and feeling like Wednesday night was going to be a long night.

However as happens almost always in sports, such performance is extremely difficult to maintain over the course of a game and the Pacers chipped away and away and even more but could never get closer than the final deficit of three points as the Cavaliers took a 100-97 nod and tied their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at one apiece before the series returns to Indianapolis for games three and four.
LeBron James scored 46 points on a team that had just two other players in double digits ( Kevin Love 15 and Kyle Korver 12) and ripped down 12 boards in a game that should be remembered for a long time and if this game occurred later in the playoffs would certainly be remembered longer than this likely will be.

Game three is Friday night at seven o'clock from Indiana.

Swashbucklings

1) LeBron James not only scored 46 of his team's 100 points, he scored the first 13 points of the game period and the first 16 for Cleveland.
An angry LeBron James almost plays possessed and when the best player in the game is angry, it's not just look out- it's get out!

2) Kevin Love didn't shoot well for the second game in a row as he hit just five of sixteen from the floor, but the news gets worse as Love left the floor holding the hand that he broke earlier in the season.
The x-ray came back clean, but is it possible that the hand is bothering Love and therefore his shooting?

3) The Cavaliers will need to shore some issues inside the paint as they were outscored 62-30.
Cleveland has become more of an outside shooting team (11 to 6 from three-point range), but that difference is pretty vast and at least needs to be narrowed...

4) Kyle Korver drilled four three's and even though this is an easy take, it's still a true one-Kyle Korver more than anyone not named LeBron James is the Cavalier that helps make a machine run well.
Korver's shooting often can open up points for a player that may not be a scoring machine, although it didn't happen in this game.
Watch for that as the Cavaliers progress.

5) Just a note on three players brought in at the trade deadline- none of Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood and George Hill played more than 20 minutes, none scored more than six points and only one finished with a plus rating (Hill at + 16 because he started and was on the floor with LeBron's hot start). No judgment. Just some numbers.

6) I really hate playing the Pacers.
The main reason?
They wear gold, the Cavaliers wore black for their first two games and from a distance, it's not easy to keep the teams apart.
Ugh...

7) Can the Cavaliers take two in Indianapolis?
I think so, but they at least need to win one of the past.
It would be nice to see someone (two would be even better) step up and help LeBron James a bit and would go a long way to save James physically.
We'll see.