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Wine & Gold Win Thriller in Indy

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Wrap-Up -- Over the past few years, as the Wine & Gold ruled the roost in the Eastern Conference, the main thorn in their side was the Indiana Pacers.

On Tuesday night, with the Pacers rolling along as the league’s hottest squad – the Cavaliers came to town and cooled them off, battling for four quarters before taking the thrilling, 92-91, win on Larry Nance Jr.’s put-back at the buzzer.

With a marquee matchup with the Raptors looming the following night, the Pacers – who’d won a league-best seven straight – might’ve expected an easy evening at the office against the Cavaliers – playing without their leading scorer (Jordan Clarkson) and rebounder (Tristan Thompson).

Instead, they got a 48-minute dogfight, and were bitten in the end after blowing a four-point lead with just over two minutes to play.

Indiana was up, 90-86, at the 2:05 mark, but buckets by Rodney Hood and Alec Burks – plus Victor Oladipo splitting a pair of free throws – got Cleveland to within one – 91-90 – with 12 second to play.

On Indy’s next possession, Oladipo was immediately fouled by Hood. But the league’s reigning Most Improved Player – who recently returned from an 11-game layoff with a knee injury – missed both free throws, opening the door for Nance’s late-game heroics.

With 8.9 to play, on what would be the game’s final possession, Rodney Hood pulled up for the 21-footer, but it rimmed out to an awaiting Nance, who cleared Oladipo out for the offensive board and tapped the ball high off the glass as time expired – rattling home the game-winner at the closing buzzer.

The game-winning tap-in capped an outstanding all-around game for Nance – who got the start as Tristan Thompson continues to rehab from a sprained left foot.

On the night, the high-flying scion of the Cavaliers legend notched 15 points on 7-for-14 shooting while leading both teams with a career-high 16 boards, six assists and three steals.

Rodney Hood

Rodney Hood pitches in a team-high 17 points in Tuesday's win over Indy.

On several occasions during the contest, Nance was actually orchestrating the Cavs’ offense from the center spot.

Hood led the Cavaliers in scoring on Tuesday – finishing with 17 points, going 5-of-12 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the stripe, adding six boards, two assists and a pair of steals.

Alec Burks had a nice effort off the bench – chipping in with 14 points, five boards and a team-high two blocks.

Cedi Osman emerged from a rough stretch to notch double-digits for the second straight contest – finishing with 13 points on 6-for-14 shooting, adding seven boards in the win.

Collin Sexton was the fourth starter to tally double-figures, adding 12 points on 6-of-13 shooting.

Sexton’s backup, Matthew Dellavedova, registered double-figures for the fifth time in the first five games of his reunion tour – chipping in with 10 points and four assists and finishing with the night’s highest plus/minus number, a +18 in just over 15 minutes of work.

Neither team shot well from the floor on Tuesday night, but the Cavs were the stingier squad – holding the Pacers to 39 percent shooting on the night, including 36 percent in the second stanza. Indiana hit on just 4-of-22 three-pointers and missed five free throws in the fourth quarter.

No Pacers starter finished with more than 14 points, with reserve Domantas Sabonis leading Indiana with 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting off the bench. Myles Turner doubled-up with 12 points and 10 boards while leading both squads with four blocks in the loss.

Turning Point -- It’s not easy to find a turning point in a game like Tuesday’s that featured 10 ties and 17 lead-changes. But maybe the most critical juncture of the game came in the final two minutes of the third quarter.

With 2:13 to play the period, Tyreke Evans' layup gave the Pacers a seven-point edge – 66-59 – as Indy attempted to deliver a knockout punch heading to the fourth.

But Delly answered back with a triple on Cleveland’s next possession and after Sabonis canned a pair of free throws, Alec Burks converted an and-one to get Cleveland back to within three.

After an Evans miss on the other end, Ante Zizic scored on a cutting dunk to get the Cavaliers back to within a single point heading into the final period – setting up the thrilling final flurry.

By the Numbers15.0, 14.0, 5.0, 2.0 … Larry Nance Jr.’s scoring, rebounding, assist and steal averages in the first two games against the Pacers this season, doubling-up in each contest while shooting 59 percent from the floor.

QuotableLarry Nance Jr., on the game-winning bucket …

"We just wanted to see if we could get them to switch and get a mismatch on top with (Myles) Turner and before we had to go get the ball in, I told Hood, ‘Put it up on the rim with a couple of seconds left or at least a tick left so I can see if I could do something with it.’ He made a good move and did exactly that, and I was lucky enough to get a hand on it and directed it. That type of thing is not really something that you subconsciously think about as its happening. It’s just a reaction and I’m glad it paid off."

Up Next -- After taking Tuesday night’s nail-biter, the Cavaliers’ longest roadie of the season so far rolls on, with the Wine & Gold making their second stop to Tobacco Road on Wednesday night to complete the back-to-back. On Friday night, the Cavs make their second and final regular season stop in Toronto – taking on the East-leading Raptors before returning home for a Sunday evening affair against the Bulls back at The Q. After that meeting with Chicago and a break to celebrate Christmas at home, the Wine & Gold get right back on the road – traveling to Memphis, Miami and Atlanta to wrap up the calendar year.

Calls of the Game