Pacers at Cavaliers
When the Cleveland Cavaliers signed LeBron James and Kevin Love last summer, they figured to battle the Indiana Pacers for Eastern Conference superiority. Instead, just getting to .500 has been a struggle for the Cavaliers and Pacers, who head into their first meeting of the season Saturday night in Cleveland. Indiana is playing better following its 1-6 start and welcomed back two injured players Friday, and the Cavaliers have won two in a row following their four-game losing streak last week.
David West, the second-leading scorer for the Pacers the past two seasons, made his season debut in Friday’s victory against the Orlando Magic and posted 18 points, six rebounds and four assists in the 98-83 victory that improved Indiana’s record to 7-9. C.J. Watson also played for the first time this season, and the backup guard made all four of his field-goal attempts and finished with nine points and four assists in 18 minutes. Roy Hibbert, the 7-2 center for the Pacers, could return against Cleveland after missing three games with an ankle injury.
TV: 7:30 p.m., FS Ohio (Cleveland), FS Indiana
ABOUT THE PACERS (7-9): Rodney Stuckey has been Indiana’s best player the last two games, scoring a season-high 22 points in Wednesday’s loss to the San Antonio Spurs and bettering that with 24 against the Magic. West’s return has sent Luis Scola back to the bench, which will give the coaching staff more options, including playing West and Scola together down the stretch. Donald Sloan scored 29 points Monday against the Dallas Mavericks but combined for nine the last two games on 4-for-16 shooting.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (7-7): Love still isn’t rebounding the way he is used to, but he’s starting to score at his regular pace. He’s averaging 18.7 points over the past three games, just under his 19.1 career average, but has had fewer than nine rebounds in each of the last four games — a bar he didn’t reach just 10 times all of last season. He’s not the only Cleveland player whose rebounds are down this year, as Anderson Varejao is averaging 6.9 boards this season after averaging no less than 9.7 the previous four seasons.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cleveland is 6-1 this season when James scores at least 25 points.
2. Varejao is questionable to play after sitting out Friday’s practice with a rib contusion.
3. A.J. Price, the sixth-leading scorer for the Pacers, was waived Friday to make room for Watson and West.