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Cavs hold off Pacers for fifth straight win, Central title 94 - 99
March 17, 2010
Jim O'Brien wanted his team to limit the Cleveland Cavaliers to one shot, grab the rebound, then get out and run. A man can dream, can't he? O'Brien is the coach of the Indiana Pacers, and while the game plan never came to fruition, his short-handed club was still able to keep it close. But in the end, it was the Cavs who got the big baskets, stops and boards in a 99-94 home victory Wednesday night. That wasn't exactly a big surprise, considering the Cavs (54-15) own the NBA's best record and have now won five straight. And for the first time in franchise history, they can call themselves back-to-back Central Division champions -- having clinched the title for the third time overall. Not bad for a team that admittedly spent much of the night going through the motions, and rarely seemed concerned that it might lose. As usual, the Cavs also appeared to understand that when all else fails, get the ball to LeBron James and get out of the way. Actually, James simply took the ball, using a few dazzling defensive plays to create offense for he and his teammates.
One was a signature block from behind on Brandon Rush with the Cavs clinging to an 88-87 lead more than midway through the fourth quarter. Another was a steal from behind a little later, when he poked the ball away from Rush and turned it into a no-look assist to Antawn Jamison. James finished with 32 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and with a month left before the playoffs, seems to be inching closer to his second consecutive league MVP. "LeBron closed that game remarkably," said Cavs coach Mike Brown. "He was terrific. The last five minutes, there was a stretch when he did everything. He blocked shots, he rebounded, he pushed the ball, he scored the ball, he assisted the ball, he dunked the ball, he went to the free-throw line. It was fun to see one guy take over a ball game in a lot of different ways." James, of course, said it wasn't anything out of the ordinary. He was just giving a lift when it was needed most. "I sensed we were a little low on energy in all [facets] of the game," he said. "Even when we went up, we lost a lot of energy to start the fourth quarter. Being a leader, I just try to give as much as possible to win the ball game."
Not surprisingly, O'Brien was equally in awe of James after watching him pick apart the Pacers (22-46) for the third time this season. "I don't have words to describe LeBron James," O'Brien said. "He's just a great winner and does whatever it takes at both ends of the court." The Cavs sort of dawdled their way to a 50-48 lead at halftime, then opened the third quarter with a 16-2 run to seemingly put the game away. But the Pacers clawed their way back into it by slowing it down and feeding the ball into the post, namely to 7-foot-2 second-year center Roy Hibbert (20 points, 8-for-12 shooting). Interestingly, that type of grind-it-out philosophy was the opposite of what O'Brien had in mind. Yet it almost worked. "We gave ourselves a chance to win in the fourth quarter," O'Brien said. "Things are starting to pick up for us. We're trying to grow our young guys every chance we get." The odds were against the Pacers from the start, considering they're a fairly young team that was without four players from the regular rotation. Included in that group was leading scorer Danny Granger, who sat out with a facial injury after taking a blow to the head the previous night against Charlotte. At any rate, after cutting the deficit to one point with 4:50 remaining in the game, the Pacers could do nothing but helplessly act as witnesses while James and the Cavs took over -- closing the game on an 11-7 spurt.
Troy Murphy added 19 points and 15 boards for the Pacers, and rookie guard A.J. Price came off the bench to score 14. Meanwhile, the Cavs were pretty much at full strength, with Jamison scoring 17 points and tying James with a team-high nine rebounds. J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao added 13 points apiece. It's that type of balance that led to another division title, and the type of depth and chemistry that the Cavs hope can eventually lead them to greater things. "Anytime you put a banner up for this franchise, it's great," James said. "It's a great tribute to the fans, the organization, the players and coaching staff. It's big."