Battle Tested
Indiana, IN – After a disheartening loss and an injury to yet another starter, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ depth is about to be tested once again.
Against the Indiana Pacers recently, they haven’t had to dig very deep to win.
LeBron James and the Cavaliers will look to bounce back from their first home loss of the season on Tuesday when they visit the Pacers, who will try to avoid dropping a 10th straight game to Cleveland.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the NA point spread favorites for Tuesday’s game against the NA. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that NA% of more than NA bets for this game have been placed on the NA.
The Cavaliers (39-10) have the top winning percentage in the Eastern Conference, largely thanks to their dominance at home. Cleveland won its first 23 games at Quicken Loans Arena – the fifth-best home start in league history – heading into a showdown with the West-leading Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday.
Many of the first 23 victories weren’t close – the Cavaliers won by an average of 15.0 points – and with a 10-point lead on the Lakers at halftime, they appeared ready to run away again. However, James struggled to get anything going as Cleveland scored 30 points in the second half on its way to a 101-91 defeat.
"Defensively, (they tried) to keep us out on the perimeter," said James, who had 16 points while shooting 5-for-20 from the floor. "In the first half, we knocked down jump shots and in the second half we didn’t knock down jump shots or get any points in the paint."
James had been on a tear coming into Sunday, averaging 32.0 points, 8.9 rebounds and 8.8 assists in nine games since Jan. 21. The Cavaliers played part of that stretch without center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who returned Jan. 30 after missing a month due to a broken ankle, and all of it without shooting guard Delonte West, who’s been out since Jan. 15 with a fractured wrist.
West’s injury left Sasha Pavlovic as the starter, and he averaged 11.3 points in his first nine starts. He missed two games with the flu before returning on Sunday, but left after spraining his ankle in the second quarter.
An MRI taken Monday revealed a high ankle sprain, meaning Pavlovic will miss four to six weeks. He’ll join West and reserve guard Tarence Kinsey on the injured list.
"It’s another big loss,” Ilgauskas said. "We can’t seem to shake the injuries. But we can’t use it as an excuse. Every team goes through something like this throughout the year so everyone is going to have to step up. We’re going to have to figure it out.”
Wally Szczerbiak, averaging 12.3 points in his last six games, will start in Pavlovic’s place.
He’ll likely find plenty of open looks against Indiana (20-32), which yields an Eastern Conference-high 107.1 points per game.
The Pacers’ problems containing the Cavaliers go back beyond this season. Indiana hasn’t beaten Cleveland since Nov. 24, 2006, allowing 106.3 ppg while losing the last nine games by an average of 13.0 points.
The latest meeting was more of a defensive clinic by Cleveland, which held the Pacers 32 points below their average in a 97-73 home win on Dec. 5. James limited Indiana All-Star Danny Granger to a season-low four points.
Granger had 33 on Friday in a win over Orlando and scored 29 on Sunday in Washington, but the Pacers’ defense abandoned them again in a 119-117 loss to the woeful Wizards.
More pressure will be on Granger on Tuesday if Mike Dunleavy can’t play. Dunleavy left Sunday’s loss when he injured his right knee – the same knee that cost him the first 34 games of the season. He’s listed as questionable.
"It was sore (Saturday) and he just couldn’t go on,” coach Jim O’Brien said.
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Posted: 2/10/09 2:00AM ET