The Cavaliers won their sixth straight on Sunday, but Indiana made them work for it.
But after 15 ties and 21 lead-changes, the Wine and Gold weathered the storm – sealing the win with a pair of perfect passes from LeBron James to Kevin Love to pull out the 101-97 victory on Sunday afternoon at The Q.
James and Love combined for 51 of Cleveland’s 101 points to keep the win streak alive. LeBron followed his 31-point performance from Friday night with 29 more on Sunday – going 10-of-23 from the floor, adding six boards and four assists – including two helpers in the final 27 seconds to ice the victory.
With 44 seconds remaining, Indy’s Monta Ellis canned a pair of free throws to get the Pacers to within three, 95-92. But after a timeout, the Cavaliers ran through a well-designed play that saw Love flash open on the baseline. LeBron found him for the layup to give Cleveland a two-possession edge.
But on the Pacers’ next possession, Paul George canned a three-pointer to get Indiana back to within a deuce. The Pacers tried to press Cleveland in the backcourt, but in-bounded the ball to Matthew Dellavedova, who fed ahead the timeline to LeBron, who fired the ball to an awaiting Love, who threw down the dunk with 8.2. to play that put the Wine and Gold up four.
Love overcame a cool-shooting first half – hitting just one of six attempts before intermission – to finish with 22 points and a season-high 19 boards, doubling up for the third straight game (and fifth time this season) after going 8-of-12 from the floor in the second stanza.
Love’s backup, Tristan Thompson, was almost as good on Sunday evening – finishing with a season-high 16 points on 7-for-8 shooting, grabbing eight boards to go with a pair of steals. Thompson, the top rebounding reserve in the NBA, has grabbed at least eight rebounds in every game this season and on Sunday, passed Phil Hubbard for 7th place on Cleveland’s all-time offensive rebounding list.
Mo Williams rounded out the Cavaliers in double-figures, finishing with 10 points and eight assists. His backup, Dellavedova, led both squad with nine assists in the victory – adding five points and a steal.
The Cavaliers out-rebounded the Pacers, 48-47, and handed out 25 assists to Indy’s 22. Cleveland has topped its opponent in both categories in each of their first seven games this season.
Click here to read more of this story.
About Marion Online Sports
