L Cavaliers 76 Pacers 98

[West Remy]

Game 11

vs

Cleveland Cavaliers (9-2) @ Indiana Pacers (6-3)

Thursday, November 24, 2005
Time: 5:00pm PT, 8:00pm ET
TV: TNT
Radio: WTAM 1100
Location: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana

Head Coaches

Mike Brown / Rick Carlisle

Probable Staters

Eric Snow / Jamaal Tinsley

Larry Hughes / Stephen Jackson

LeBron James / Ron Artest

Drew Gooden / Austin Croshere

Zydrunas Ilgauskas / Jermaine O’Neal

Cleveland Cavaliers Bench

Damon Jones / Luke Jackson / Sasha Pavlovic / Donyell Marshall / Alan Henderson

Indiana Pacers Bench

Sarunas Jasikevicius / Fred Jones / Danny Granger

Cleveland Cavaliers' Notes

* Refuse to be intimidated by the Pacers and attack their defense early on. While Indiana’s defense is still quite strong, they have been prone to occasional breakdowns and shakey moments down the stretch.

* Knock down foul shots early to start the game and late to close things out. When Cleveland knocks them down, they usually win.

* LeBron needs Larry Hughes to have a good scoring game to keep the Pacers’ defense honest. If Hughes can get off to a good start, they will have to make a choice to either let Hughes continue to score or pay more attention to him, freeing LeBron in the process.

* Drew Gooden needs to stay with Croshere and not lose his assigment. On the other end, test Croshere’s springs by attacking the offensive glass. If Drew plays well with his usual energy, he should be able to win this match up.

* Damon Jones (injured left ankle against Celtics and might not play) and Donyell Marshall need to knock down shots. Whether they can successfully spread the floor or not will determine the quality of shots the Cavs will receive.

Indiana Pacers Notes

* Indiana is currently dealing with injuries. While their depth is incredible and able to withstand the blow, the team isn’t full strength and won’t go as deep into their bench.

* The locker room may be divided by the Tinsley/Jasikevicius drama. Some players clearly prefer Tinsley’s style more, while others prefer playing with Jasikevicius. With this situation nearly bubbling over, expect Jamaal to try to be aggressive early and put his stamp on the game. If this backfires, the Cavs will see Indiana trying too hard with shakey guard play coming out of the gate.

* The Pacers have had some turnover problems as of late. Much like us, Indiana can get careless with the ball. Look for the Pacers to play more under control basketball.

Overview

Cleveland needs this win badly. They need to prove to themselves they can beat the Detroit’s, Indiana’s and Miami’s of the East. Not only is game important due to it being an Eastern conference supremacy litmus test, it’s also a major test for Cleveland trying to improve themselves as a road team. True contenders find a way to win on the road.

 

[Karma]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

Hopefully Damonplays as we have all been keen for a Sarunas Jones faceoff. I was very keen to see who has the worst defense in the NBA outside Jeff McInnis.

On a more serious not, I personally dont see this as a "must" win game. I see this as a game to test our us mentally. I want to see if we can stick to a plan when they really stick it to us. If we hold strong we may well win, but to me I just want to see a focussed effort where we dont over react. We need o keep playing the game to our speed, and not let them set the tempo. This will be tough, but this is what I will be looking at.

 

[fsqp13]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

every game is a must win game, you have to show class against atlantas and torontos and dominance against the pacers and pistons caliber of teams

 

[Cleveland56]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

* The locker room may be divided by the Tinsley/Jasikevicius drama. Some players clearly prefer Tinsley’s style more, while others prefer playing with Jasikevicius. With this situation nearly bubbling over, expect Jamaal to try to be aggressive early and put his stamp on the game. If this backfires, the Cavs will see Indiana trying too hard with shakey guard play coming out of the gate.

did you read this somewhere?

Great Thanksgiving game by the way. I can't wait to watch it.

 

[West Remy]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

every game is a must win game, you have to show class against atlantas and torontos and dominance against the pacers and pistons caliber of teams

True. =)

Last season we tended to sweep the series against teams like the Hawks, Bobcats and the other teams we were "supposed" to beat. But against the elite teams with winning records, the Cavs struggled. However, a win against the Pacers would help the team turn a new page. We've played the Pacers very close in some games but always wound up losing. It's time to get over the hump.

did you read this somewhere?

Not from an article but this was a reoccurring theme I picked up on after reading enough posts at various Pacers boards around the web.

 

[Dungong]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

This should be a good one. Personally i don't want to see Damon in action unless he's 100%, no reason to risk having him aggravate the injury and end up missing more time than he should. They're going to be thin on the bigs, so attacking the basket early and making JO sit would be nice. I'm not sure if we have an answer on D for Jackson and Artest. Its a very winnable game, especially if we keep the turnovers down, go inside instead of settling for perimeter jumpers, and close out on D.

 

[Coyote]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that our keys to the game are solid team defense and penetration on the offensive end. That and we need someone other than Lebron or Larry to step up. If the Pacers have to worry about Z, or Donyell, or Gooden, then that opens up more room. Z frankly should go off. We need to attack b/c of our FT shooting. The Pacers have been shooting around .750, we're around .800. That small bit could be the difference, especially on the road.

 

[LyXo]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

Larry is going to have to be huge this game for us to succeed. LeBron will get his, but he will have trouble attacking the basket with Artest marking him up. Larry must take advantage by using his superior first step and passing skills to set people up.

Interior defense will be key, but perimeter moreso. Jermaine O'neal will get his, let's face it. Our interior is just not up to par. He will get his 25 points... lets just try to keep it at that. Our main focus should be slowing him down, and stopping Ron and Stephen from having big games.

Croshere is the "cavs-killer," but look. We have Mike Brown now. Our defense will be far better than Silas', so look to have Croshere shut down this year. We know too much about him to let him take it to us again.

Get Z the ball, pound it in there, and rack up fouls for the opposition.

And, they will have no answer for Donyell Marshall.

This game will be intense. I hope I'm not all turkeyed out for it.

 

[cavincali]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

if the cavs win this game marshall will have over 20 points. thats a garuntee.

 

[Pioneer10]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

This game is all about Z: they really don't have a player who can match em up on D and z's not going to guard a jumpshooting big men

 

[Karma]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

Game time ladies and gents!

 

[Karma]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

Just when we seemed to stem the flow, we finish the way we started!

Horrendous half.

 

[Karma]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

Quite embaressing really.

 

[Karma]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

On a more serious not, I personally dont see this as a "must" win game. I see this as a game to test our us mentally. I want to see if we can stick to a plan when they really stick it to us. If we hold strong we may well win, but to me I just want to see a focussed effort where we dont over react. We need o keep playing the game to our speed, and not let them set the tempo. This will be tough, but this is what I will be looking at.

Well I guess we failed what I was looking for.

 

[RuanuLaw]

Re: Cavs @ Pacers

Wow, we are sick! (not the good kind).

This is embarassing. Is a Philadelphia type of game possible for this one? Or can we just mark it off as a loss right now and move on?