Fortunately for Cleveland,former Cavalier C.J.Miles was short with his jumper and Cleveland escaped with a 109-108 win in game one of their series..
LeBron James scored 32 points and dished 13 assists with Kyrie Irving adding 23 points.
Cleveland will host game two Monday night....
Swashbucklings
1) The Cavaliers defense had its problems again in this game,but when the game was on the line,Cleveland stepped up with the Pacers inbounding with ten seconds and kept the ball out of the hands of Paul George.
Evcn if C.J.Miles drills the jumper to win the game for Indiana,that was exactly the type of defense that you hope to see when the game is decided...
2) LeBron James played in his 200th playoff game in the victory.
James threw down the pictured dunk and set the packed house down with screams...
3) Tyronn Lue is going to stick to a tight rotation as Iman Shumpert and Derrick Williams didn't play in this one.
I'm willing to bet that that both Shumpert and Williams will play a bigger role sometime during the playoffs.
Lue played matchups in last years playoffs,he is likely to do so again...
4) Kyle Korver did play 15 minutes,but Indiana was prepared for the sharpshooter,didn't leave him alone and played him tight enough that he was only able to launch one shot-a two pointer that he made.
Korver had big games (25 points per game) against Indiana earlier this season and the Pacers figured that into their defensive plans in game one...
5) Kyrie Irving did score 23 points,but he did it on 11 for 27 shooting and just 1 of 9 from three point range.
Combine that with a missed layup late in the game and Irving's numbers looked better than they were..
6) Yes,Cleveland was lucky to escape with a win,but despite defensive breakdowns and many missed opportunities,the fact still remains that the Cavaliers won on a day that they were far from at their best.
The main thing is the win,I'll take that everytime.
No comments:
Post a Comment