Coming into the game I expected it to be a very competitive game. The Pacers are the better team, but their starting point guard, George Hill, and their starting small forward, Danny Granger, was injured. Cleveland is expected to make the playoffs this year and they have enough talent to compete with anyone.
Starting off the game Cleveland looked ready to go playing with great energy. Anderson Varejao started them off with four straight jumpers leading them to a pretty solid first quarter. The game stayed relatively close all the way to the fourth quarter. The Pacers had a seven point lead heading into the fourth quarter and ended up winning by fifteen.
I was disappointed in how Cleveland played overall. I thought Dion Waiters took way too many shots as he finished with a team high 17 points, but shot 7-21 from the field which is not efficient at all. Kyrie Irving is the Cavaliers star player and has started off the season in a slump as he finished with 15 points going 6-17 from the field. The biggest disappointment was the Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson. The first game of the season he had 18 points and 9 rebounds and the second game he had 21 points and 11 rebounds. Against the Pacers he had 2 points and 4 rebounds which was a huge key at why the Pacers won.
The Pacers got a huge game from Lance Stephenson who is filling the role of Danny Granger right now while he is injured. Stephenson finished with 22 points going 5-7 from the three. The Pacers star player Paul George had a nice game with 21 points and 13 rebounds. The only disappointment I saw from the Pacers was their sure-handed power forward David West who only score 4 points and grabbed 3 rebounds.
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| "Tristan Thompson and Roy Hibbert tip it up on November 2, 2013" (My image Dominique Neely) |
Very nice that you provided a first hand account
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