INDIANAPOLIS — Not many mid-March video games have potential playoff ramifications.
Monday evening’s did.
The injury-depleted Cavs took a step nearer to the Japanese Convention’s No. 2 seed with a gutsy 108-103 win over the Indiana Pacers. It’s Cleveland’s first victory in opposition to Indiana this season. The 2 division rivals wrap up the season sequence in Cleveland subsequent month.
“That’s form of the message of who we should be, and I assumed our guys responded,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff stated. “It took us a second to form of meet up with their tempo and their tempo. However I assumed as the sport progressed, we did an outstanding job of figuring them out.
“It took toughness, it took resilience, it took togetherness to verify we by no means splintered even in adversity and with the ups and downs.”
It’s not simply that the Cavs entered the evening within the Japanese Convention’s third spot, with Indiana sitting at No. 6, making it a doable first-round playoff preview. However they’ve been in a aggressive battle with surging Milwaukee for the second seed all season. Much more so these days. Now Cleveland, at present one sport again of the Bucks, holds a vital tiebreaker.
Monday’s conquer the Pacers was the Cavs’ tenth within the Central Division. It’s the identical variety of divisional victories as Milwaukee. It doesn’t matter what occurs the rest of the season, Cleveland may have a greater divisional successful proportion — the second tiebreaker behind head-to-head document, which is able to end 2-2.
Benefit: Cavs.
After opening the sport on a 7-2 run, the Cavs have been outscored 19-3 over the subsequent five-plus minutes and 32-18 the rest of the primary quarter, digging an early gap that’s usually tough to get better from in opposition to the high-octane Pacers.
However behind an aggressive Caris LeVert, the same old sixth man who moved again into the beginning lineup due to a plethora of accidents, Cleveland tied the sport late within the second quarter — and it remained that means on the halftime break.
The Cavs got here out of the locker room with a objective, taking their first lead for the reason that opening minutes and constructing a double-digit benefit.
They withstood each Pacers run and made sufficient performs at each ends, holding Indiana to only 20 factors within the fourth quarter, displaying the defense-first identification on the basis of this franchise.
“It was successful time,” Bickerstaff stated. “They’re an elite offensive crew. They’ve guys who can take over video games and beat you from everywhere in the flooring. I assumed we did an ideal job with people taking challenges however guys have been by no means on their very own. Guys have been speaking, defending each other, rotating, making the additional effort. I beloved our physicality and I feel we overcame rather a lot.”
With out 4 of their prime 10 rotational gamers — Donovan Mitchell (knee bone bruise and nasal fracture), Max Strus (knee pressure), Dean Wade (knee soreness) and Evan Mobley (ankle sprain) — it doesn’t matter how or why. Fairly or ugly. Offense or protection.
It’s about discovering a means. By any means obligatory.
The Cavs did simply that.
Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton tied the sport on the two-minute mark of the fourth quarter with an off-balance leaner. However LeVert responded with a troublesome bucket on the different finish, placing Cleveland again in entrance once more by two. After back-to-back defensive stops, the Cavs executed on the offensive finish, making it a two-possession sport. That was sufficient cushion.
LeVert completed with 23 factors, 11 assists and eight rebounds.
“We’ve got a number of guys able to contributing and making large performs down the stretch,” LeVert stated. “Simply attempting to make the best play with the basketball.”
Jarrett Allen matched LeVert with 23 factors of his personal.
Marcus Morris Sr., signed to a 10-day contract early Monday morning after just a few weeks chillin’ within the solar along with his youngsters, tallied 14 factors on 5 of seven taking pictures and 4 of 5 from 3-point vary off the bench in 20 productive minutes. He punctuated his Cavs debut with a buzzer-beating triple on the finish of the third quarter that gave Cleveland a seven-point lead going into the fourth.
“At this level, we’ll strive something,” Bickerstaff stated about utilizing Morris a lot in his debut. “We have been laughing. You come out and play the way in which he performed — principally from the sofa to the court docket — in a aggressive sport like that, simply speaks to his professionalism. I assumed he gave us an enormous elevate.”
Morris is the primary Cavalier to tally at the least 14 factors off the bench in his debut since 2021, when Taurean Prince poured in 17.
In all, the Cavs had six gamers attain double figures in scoring. Darius Garland (13), Georges Niang (13) and Sam Merrill (11) have been the others.
However it was Cleveland’s protection that performed the largest function within the victory, holding Indiana to an offensive ranking of simply 109.6, properly beneath its season mark of 119.8, which ranks second within the NBA.
The post-All-Star portion of the season has been dotted with inconsistency. Monday’s sport adopted that very same script. However in a matchup like this, with excessive stakes, a very powerful quantity is the one on the scoreboard, particularly if April comes and the Cavs are nonetheless in a dogfight for the second seed.
The Cavs will return house for a matchup in opposition to the Miami Warmth on Wednesday evening. Tipoff is ready for 7 p.m.