CLEVELAND - 17,502 rushed to Quicken Loans Arena tonight for Dion Waiters bobblehead night. I will admit that it was tough to focus on the game with all the trade rumors that were being passed around during the game. With Chris Grant missing from his normal seat during the first half, many thought a deal was in the making. Fox Sports Ohio's Sam The Bullshit Whisperer was at the forefront of the reports:
Also, sources tell @FOXSportsOH another team (not #Lakers) has offered #Cavs first-round draft pick for Dion Waiters. No further info yet.
— Sam The Bullshit Whisperer (@SamAmicoFSO) January 5, 2014
With all involved wanting to make move today, #Cavs trade talks have just taken considerably more serious turn, sources tell @FOXSportsOH.
— Sam The Bullshit Whisperer (@SamAmicoFSO) January 5, 2014
Whatever happens, #NBA execs buzzing about potential Bynum & Gasol trade(s). Some say #Lakers out, #Bulls or #Jazz in. #Griz even mentioned.
— Sam The Bullshit Whisperer (@SamAmicoFSO) January 6, 2014
However, there was a game played on Sunday night. As expected, Kyrie missed his 3rd straight game, but the surprise was the late scratch of Jarrett Jack due to back spasms. Dellavedova got the starting nod at point guard from Coach Brown who was asked about the possibility of Waiters starting at point guard, but he said he didn't consider it and likes what he is getting from Dion off the bench. I can't blame him considering Dion is the highest scoring player off the bench in the Eastern Conference at 16.2 ppg entering Sunday's matchup.
The Cavs were able to hold the Pacers to just 36% shooting from the floor including 28% in the 4th quarter. Unfortunately for the Cavs, they were only able to shoot 34% for the game. Despite another poor shooting performance, the Cavs got stops on the defense end of the floor and didn't back down to the current #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. After the game Brown said, "I thought we did a great job for covering for one another. Especially on the defense end of the floor," and added " I definitely like the fight that our guys showed tonight."
No surprise, but Dellavedova stayed aggressive all night and managed to get under the skin of the Pacers. Both Paul George and Roy Hibbert committed hard fouls on Delly. George received a technical foul in the third quarter and was asked after the game about Delly's play. "He was doing too much." Poor Paul George was mad with Delly. What a shame.
Cleveland found themselves down by 16 points in the 4th quarter. It would have been easy to just give up, but they continued to battle back. Dion was 1-9 from the field before going nuts and making four shots in a row with 4 minutes left in the game. He was 5-11 with 12 points in the 4th quarter alone. Naturally Mike never doubted going to Dion at the end of the game. Unfortunately the execution down the stretch by the entire team led to the loss. With 20 seconds left, Brown setup Dion at the top of the key and gave him the freedom to create his own shot. "I went back and forth between obviously putting Hibbert in a pick-and-roll or letting Dion go on a one-on-one situation...Dion in a one-on-one situation is very good...I could have flipped a coin on that one cause I was back and forth….He did a fantastic job against Orlando when he was put in that same situation." Dion decided to go on-on-one with Paul George which led to a missed layup. After fouling sending Hibbert to the line, the Cavs could only hope for another chance. Hibbert made just 1-2 free throws which gave the Cavs hope with just 7 seconds left.