102
79
Saturday, October 19th, 2013 at 7:30 PM ET at Quicken Loans Arena
Game Rewind: Pacers 102, Cavaliers 79
Scott Agness | October 19, 2013
Game Recap
Playing in Cleveland, on the second night of a back-to-back, the Pacers overcame a sluggish start and dominated the second half en route a 102-79 victory Saturday night. The win is the Pacers’ (1-5) first in the preseason and dropped the Cavaliers to 3-2.
It was a rough start for Indiana, as the Pacers missed nine of their first 11 shots from the field, turned the ball over four times, and slipped behind by 11. And, although they connected on just 24 percent of their field goals in the first quarter, they only trailed the Cavs by four points when the quarter concluded.
The Cavaliers remained in front for the entire second period, but a late push brought the Pacers to within three at the half, despite struggling from deep (2-for-10) and getting drilled on the boards 30 to 15. Danny Granger was held out with a strained left calf – nothing serious – so that put Lance Stephenson, who scored four of his 13 points in the second, in the starting lineup.
After the break, Indiana shot 53 percent and scored 16 points in a third quarter that dragged on. The Pacers were in the bonus less than four minutes into the period and thus they attempted 25 fouls shots, connecting on 15. With 12 minutes to play, the Pacers had a four-point lead.
From there, the Pacers excelled and cruised to the win. They outscored the Cavaliers 13-3 to get the quarter started and were in front by as many as 23. C.J. Watson scored 10 points in just over five fourth-quarter minutes. With a comfortable lead, Pacers coach Frank Vogel played Rasual Butler, Donald Sloan and Hilton Armstrong for much of the final period. While just preseason, it has to be sweet for this Pacers bunch to finally taste a win.
Inside the Numbers
David West led the charge for the Pacers with 20 points – 10 coming at the foul line. Chris Copeland scored 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting. George Hill didn’t score in more than 20 minutes of court time.
Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving was responsible for 15 points and five dimes. Tristan Thompson and rookie Anthony Bennett each scored 11 points. Bennett also pulled down 10 rebounds to record a double-double before he fouled out of the game.
The Cavaliers outrebounded the Pacers 55-39, but the Pacers scored 40 points in the paint while controlling the lane.
The Pacers assisted on 25 of their 34 field goals and they held the Cavaliers to 29.5 percent shooting.
The Pacers’ bench accounted for 52.9 percent of their points (54).
Stat of the Game
The Pacers shot 51 percent outscored the Cavaliers 66-40 in the second half.
Quotable
“We were able to further explore our roster flexibility, like working on some combinations with Copeland and Roy (Hibbert) together and David (West) and Luis (Scola) together. I liked both combinations and it was good to get the win. We didn’t shoot a good percentage, but we were aggressive and got the bonus early and we were running the (third) quarter, so that contributed a lot to it. I think the offense was really fluid the first half, but I think we were missing a lot of open shots. Tired legs and even on the free throw line it looked like we had tired legs, we’re fatigued but we’re battling through it and I think we are learning to trust the pass.” – Frank Vogel
“We were down at halftime and just wanted to come in and get the win. We didn’t think we were playing up to our standards, so we came out and just played better as a team.” – C.J. Watson
“We have to give credit for this one to the bench. They came in and took over, made the lead. I’m extremely happy for them. David West carried us, kept us in the game. We didn’t shoot free throws for a while so whenever we practice next – we have to learn.” – Roy Hibbert
“I thought it was a fun basketball game in the first half and even part of the third quarter because it was ugly and nasty and neither team had a rhythm. We weren’t shooting well. They weren’t shooting well. I thought it was a physical contest.” – Cavs coach Mike Brown
Noteworthy
- Indiana has won three straight preseason meetings against Cleveland.
- Andrew Bynum (right knee surgery), Carrick Felix (mild sports hernia), Jarrett Jack (left knee chondromalacia), C.J. Miles (sore left leg), Tyler Zeller (appendectomy) all were out with injuries for Cleveland.
Up Next
The Pacers head to Atlanta, where they'll take on the Hawks Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. EST in their third of four consecutive road games to finish the preseason.
