# Cleveland at Indiana (2/25/05)



## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

@









5:00 pm PT, 8:00 pm ET
Live on *ESPN*

The Pacers will be tough to beat at home and match up very well with the Cavaliers. Indiana’s man-to-man defense should be solid tonight but they have the ability to zone the Cavaliers effectively too. Jiri will play tonight, which has some Cavaliers’ fans excited, hoping for a big game. LeBron should test Jiri’s stroke early and if LeBron sees his hand is hot, look for James to rack assists. Since this game is on national television, either Cleveland will look good or horrible. It’s like a law of nature these days. Gooden needs to be strong on the boards and not get discouraged. JO is going to be a handful like always.










It’s showtime, kid.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Your right remy, I never look forward to the nationally televised games. It seems like we are almost always on the road and we more often than not play like crap. We haven't had a quality road win in a LONG time, and with some of the tougher teams coming up this is really a must win game.

I'm hoping Jiri starts with the 1st unit (not going to happen, I know) or at least gets some major minutes tonight. If you think about how many times we've lost games because teams zone us or leave snow/newble wide open Welsch could make a huge impact. :yes:


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

This is ridiculous. The lineup the Cavs have now are Diop, Snow, Traylor, Harris, and Newble. Who the hell is going to score in this lineup?


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Pioneer10 said:


> This is ridiculous. The lineup the Cavs have now are Diop, Snow, Traylor, Harris, and Newble. Who the hell is going to score in this lineup?



What's sad is that lineup still didn't score.

The Cavs miss Anderson's energy.
And where was Pavlovic? I saw Harris, but now Sasha.


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

we suck


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Welsch=JR Bremer pt. 2

People come to the Cavs and forget how to make wideopen 3 pointers.


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## Larry Hughes for Retirement (Jul 5, 2004)

Why does every single person collapse on Jermaine O'neil and every post player in the NBA. We collapse they kick and reverse the ball and we have about the worst defensive rotation in the world and they get a open look.

Thats not to mention our defensive close outs, When Jeff M. went to go close out on Eddie Gill (Eddie f***ing Gill) he just went right around Jeff and scored a layup.

Its not Silas fault he cant play Z and Lebron 48 minutes each someone has to do something. And tractor traylor shooting 15 footers every damn time he is open. GIVE IT UP TRACTOR.

We have been a sorry team to watch the past few games. Hopefully we get this thing going and maybe we will see some energy off the bench in the 2nd half. When i think we score 43 points in the 1st half i think we might be down 5-8 points, not 15 points. Thats just terrible no playoff team can go far if they cant play defense.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh............frustration........


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## PacersguyUSA (Sep 1, 2002)

Good game so far from this perspective. If only Indiana could buy a defensive rebound.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

On the plus side, Z is bringing it. Z's cemented his position as the second best center in the NBA with his play the last month or so. Yao Ming and Brad Miller are going to have to take a number.

Stephen Jackson is punking Lebron out there for the most part.


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## SamTheMan67 (Jan 4, 2004)

Please varejao come back and take tractors minutes


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## Larry Hughes for Retirement (Jul 5, 2004)

^^^
I second that idea....


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

^^^^^

Third. His energy is sorely lacking.


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## Pacers Fan (Aug 25, 2002)

Wow. Silas: Say hello to your cousin, Mr. Jackson!


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Damn our squad sucks on the road. It's ridiculous the disparity between our home and road play.

What a horrible performance, the Pacers didn't even have their starting PG and C.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

We need a consistent 3rd scorer on this team, it's Z + Bron and then ?

Gooden is too inconsistent and lacks in the bball IQ department, and Jmac...well... It's pretty sad when Anthony Johnson blows by you off the dribble.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Benedict_Boozer said:


> Damn our squad sucks on the road. It's ridiculous the disparity between our home and road play.
> 
> What a horrible performance, the Pacers didn't even have their starting PG and C.


 God we suck big b**ls on the road.

I hate the Tractor. His fat butt can't get any lift inside and JO just abused him.

Forget needing SG: we need to find a PG for next year. McInnis has to be the one of the worst PG defenders in the league and Snow gets atleast one jumpshot, a jumpshot not a drive, blocked a game

I second all the people that Anderson might have helped big time in this game


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## remy23 (Aug 15, 2002)

What is scary is Cleveland is becoming more like last year’s squad that seemed content with alternating wins-losses. Zydrunas tried being a lone shining light but after a while, even he tailed off. The way this team lost was embarassing. When you lose by that much, you should be angry or at least annoyed. But the team seemed more depressed about losing like that than angry. The energy was never there. Even when the lead got chipped down to 13, the Cavaliers never put it all together. 

*Boxscore*


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

I agree big time Pioneer Jmac has to go. Maybe i'm overreacting but how the are we gonna be contenders (Redd or not) when opposing teams PG's waltz in the lane every night!


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

LBJ to LJ for 3 said:


> Why does every single person collapse on Jermaine O'neil and every post player in the NBA. We collapse they kick and reverse the ball and we have about the worst defensive rotation in the world and they get a open look.
> 
> Thats not to mention our defensive close outs, When Jeff M. went to go close out on Eddie Gill (Eddie f***ing Gill) he just went right around Jeff and scored a layup.


Agree our defense sucked. I've ripped McInnis all year but completely agree with the rotation note. It seemed after any double team the Pacers with one pass for a wide open jumper. Terrible


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## Pacers Fan (Aug 25, 2002)

I really don't think you guys played all that bad (except LeBron could've been a bit better, and Z could've taken less crazy shots), it's just that Indiana is finally pulling together. Watch out in the playoffs.


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## Benedict_Boozer (Jul 16, 2004)

Pacers Fan said:


> I really don't think you guys played all that bad (except LeBron could've been a bit better, and Z could've taken less crazy shots), it's just that Indiana is finally pulling together. Watch out in the playoffs.


Well Indiana has way more depth than us at this point, thats for sure. I think that's where we are losing road games (other than our obvious lack of defense) is the constant disparity in bench points.


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## Pioneer10 (Sep 30, 2004)

Pacers Fan said:


> I really don't think you guys played all that bad (except LeBron could've been a bit better, and Z could've taken less crazy shots), it's just that Indiana is finally pulling together. Watch out in the playoffs.


Well the Pacers definitely are better prepared and coached then the Cavs. I agree the Heat, Pistons, and Pacers should be the cream of the crop in the East. We're just too young and too inconsistent to be contenders. That being said, watch the rematch in Cleveland and you'll see a totally different team -almost all our players play better at home. That second quarter was just brutal and guys like Lebron didn't seem to move at all without the ball.


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## futuristxen (Jun 26, 2003)

Pacers Fan said:


> I really don't think you guys played all that bad (except LeBron could've been a bit better, and Z could've taken less crazy shots), it's just that Indiana is finally pulling together. Watch out in the playoffs.


I don't think they're going to make the playoffs. New York looked great last night against Philly too. Sometimes you just have one of those nights where everything goes right, and nothing goes right for your opponent. The Pacers came out with effort, the Cavs didn't.

One thing you should worry about was the ease with which Z could have his way inside against the Pacers. You guys are really small up front and need to do a better job of clearing the defensive glass.


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## Pacers Fan (Aug 25, 2002)

futuristxen said:


> You guys are really small up front and need to do a better job of clearing the defensive glass.


Thankfully we finally have a big player in David Harrison, but otherwise, we are a pretty small team. If we have both Pollard and Foster playing on the same night (which is rare) we should be alright on the boards.


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## Mongolmike (Jun 11, 2002)

Just a quick observation on Jiri's play... and I am being objective... he had three fouls. The first was a reach-in foul on Freddy... not a hard foul, but he had gotten slightly beat off the ball (watched in in slo-mo on tape) and did reach in. No problem on the foul call. The 2nd was the charging... but that was a poor call as the Indy bigman (Pollard?) actually jumped out to the little arc they use to delineate charging fouls, and his left foot/leg wasn't even planted... and that is what banged into Jiri's knee/thigh area. Bad call. The 3rd foul was a really weak call with the ref saying he pushed Croshere(?) for a board and it was not evident. So he got banged for 3 quick fouls, only 1 legit, and got a bruised knee/thigh out of the deal.

He should be a go for Sunday, but he's still a round peg in a square hole for us. He's only gonna get used to his new team-mates by being on the floor... so get used to some sloppy play for a while.


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