Cavaliers at Pacers
Tyronn Lue wanted to get the Cleveland Cavaliers playing with a faster pace and is so far succeeding with flying colors. The Cavaliers will bring their high-flying act out on the road when they visit the Indiana Pacers in the opener of a two-game trip on Monday.
Lue told reporters his team was out of shape after it was run off the court by the Chicago Bulls in his debut on Jan. 23, but the Cavaliers have since won four straight while scoring an average of 115 points and earned their most impressive win of the season with a 117-103 triumph over San Antonio on Saturday. “I think our team responded well, playing fast, getting easy shots,” Lue told reporters after Saturday’s win. “Kyrie (Irving) and LeBron (James) attacking early and then getting Kevin (Love) in the low post and making jump shots, so I thought (Saturday) was a picture-perfect way of how we want to play.” The Pacers have earned back-to-back wins after a stretch of six losses in seven games and feel like they’ve found the right formula. “The last few games we’ve been playing as a team, a total team effort,” Indiana guard Monta Ellis told reporters. “We’ve been getting stops at the end when we needed to. We need to continue that and keep playing together.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), FSN Indiana
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (34-12): The biggest beneficiary of Lue’s system has been Love, who is averaging 23.7 points with a pair of double-doubles in the last three games. “I think just confidence, picking my spots on the floor,” Love told ESPN about his uptick in production. “Ty’s been putting me in good spots, LeBron and Kyrie have been finding me, we’ve been playing downhill. It’s become a good product for us.” Love is 11-of-21 from 3-point range in the last three games and 10-of-10 from the free-throw line.
ABOUT THE PACERS (25-22): Ellis scored or assisted on all 10 of Indiana’s points in overtime of a 109-105 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday, part of a season-high 32-point effort. “It was really my teammates,” Ellis told reporters. “They were knocking down shots and opening it up for me. We were able to share the ball, move the ball around and get open shots. It was a total team effort.” Ellis slumped to six points on 3-of-12 shooting in a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday but found his rhythm in the last two games with an average of 28.5 points.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cavaliers C Timofey Mozgov is 15-of-21 from the field in the last four games.
2. Indiana C Ian Mahinmi (sore lower back) sat out Saturday and is day-to-day.
3. James and Love combined for 51 points in a 101-97 home win over Indiana on Nov. 8.