CLEVELAND, Ohio – There are times when things click for the Cavaliers; when passes are crisp, the ball is moving and shots are falling.
Then, there are times when it all unravels.
The Cavaliers were at their best, and their worst Wednesday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in a 114-11 loss to the Indiana Pacers that snapped the Cavaliers four-game win streak.
“We had a lot of good moments tonight, but we had a lot of bad moments,” Cavs guard Collin Sexton said. “Tonight, we gave up a lot of easy ones, a lot of transitional stuff. When it’s like that it’s tough.”
The Pacers snapped a streak of their own, halting a four-game losing skid with the win and notching their second win in as many tries over the Wine and Gold this season.
The most glaring stat of the night: turnovers.
Cavaliers coughed it up six times in the last 2:45 of the first quarter as a nine-point lead evaporated into a 28-all tie at the end of the first frame.
“It wasn’t tricky, it was pretty simple what was going on.
We didn’t respond well enough to the pressure,” head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said.
The Cavaliers committed 19 turnovers in the first half, 26 for the game. The Pacers scored 35 points off of Cavs miscues Wednesday night with 28 of their 51 first-half points coming via turnovers.
“There are certain turnovers that you live with but when the other team takes the ball from you or you pass it into a deflected hand,” Bickerstaff said. “Those are the plays that break you down lot of those plays were happening at the top of the floor. So, they were able to get out into transition.”
Yet the Wine and Gold took a ten-point lead into the half by shooting 61-percent from the field and outrebounded the Pacers 26-5.
“It was pretty shocking that we were up by ten, but we were making shots,” Bickerstaff said.
“When you’re making shots, it always gives you an opportunity to have an advantage.
Collin Sexton scored 14 points and had 10 assists in the first 24 minutes, tying his career-high in assists. But he didn’t issue another helper for the rest of the evening. Sexton led all scorers with 32 points on the night.
Dean Wade matched his career-high of 12 points in the first half 4-for-4 from beyond the arc and finished the night with 17 points.
“That lead we built in the first half; he was four-for four form three. He (Wade) had a huge part to play in that,” Bickerstaff said.
Despite the turnover-filled first half, the Cavaliers opened up a 19-point advantage in the second half. But they failed to put Indiana away. It didn’t help that the Cavaliers lost Darius Garland to an injury.
Garland scored 16 points and doled out five assists, but left the game in the third quarter with a left groin strain. The Cavaliers offense never looked the same and the game snowballed out of control from there.
“He was one of our primary ball handlers and playmakers.
Without him in the game, it became more difficult,” Bickerstaff said. “They were able to focus on Collin, send multiple bodies to him. We missed Darius a lot down the stretch.
The Cavs were up 81-62 with 6:07 to play in the third quarter. Indiana went on a 20-9 run to close out the frame to trail 90-82 heading into the fourth quarter.
When Garland left the game, the Cavaliers were up 17 points.
The Pacers went on a 38-18 run. Through the midway point of the fourth quarter.
The Cavs frustrating night was punctuated by consecutive over-and-back violations in the final two minutes, sending the Cavaliers into the All-Star Break on a sour note.
Garland suffers left groin strain as win streak snapped
