Cavs Blow Early Leads in Loss to Pacers; Boston Barely Escape Home Loss to Pels
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 13 Jan 2025
League leading Cleveland Cavaliers experienced a meltdown in dropping a rare 108-93 home loss to the Indiana Pacers in a weird day that also saw Boston Celtics barely escaping a defeat at their own floor to the New Orleans Pelicans, 120-119.
The Cavs posted early leads over the Pacers in the first half before getting thoroughly outplayed starting the third quarter scoring just 18 points, a foldup that continued in the final frame where they were outscored 31-22 by Indiana.
Cleveland starters opened the game like a house on fire hitting from the outside unerringly and from the inside with power and authority as the Pacers seemed to grope for form. Somehow, Indiana managed to put up a stiff fight cutting the deficit to two at the end of the first canto, 19-21.
With Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland swishing the basket from afar and Eric Mobley and Jarrett Allen having their way in and around the slot, the Cavs again broke away in the second quarter even building ten points lead before settling to 53-40 halftime lead.
The Pacers fought back again in the third through Aaron Nembhard, Myles Turner, Paskal Siakam and Ben Mathurin, clamping down on defense and ramping up on offense. But before that the Cavs were trying hard to keep the game close. Indiana gave a glimpse of what was to come as it limited Cleveland to just 18 points while scoring 37 points to take the driver's seat 77-71 entering the payoff period.
The meltdown continued for the Cavs in the final quarter as they were outscored by the Pacers, 31-22 with Allen continuing to struggle against the Pacers battery of big men that included 6-10 Obi Toppin and 6-7 Jarace Walker who corralled 12 of the Pacers night high 50 rebounds, six better than the Cavs. The Indiana defense also zeroed in on Mobley, Garland and Mitchell limiting their touches and clear view of the basket.
Meanwhile Nembhard, Siakam and Turner continued to score from outside and under accounting for team topping 19 points, 18 and 15 respectively. Siakam and Turner likewise grabbed 9 boards each. Mathurin tossed 12 points
Garland topped for the Cavs with 20 points followed by Mitchell with 18 and Mobley 16 but Allen was limited to 11. They were the only players to score in double figures for the Cavs which usually have six players contributing at least 10 points per game.
With the win, Indiana has taken down in back to back fashion and on the road two fancied teams having beaten Golden State earlier.
Meanwhile, Boston which was expected to easily put away a last placer New Orleans Pelicans, struggled practically from the start and only a last second floater miss by CJ McCollum preserved a 120-119 victory at the TD Garden.
Jason Tatum, still chaffing from being tagged as "soft" by Brandon Jennings, scored 38 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead the Celtics in the slim victory. But the way they won did not help vindicate him and inspire confidence in the Celtics' ability to defend their title.
Center Kristaps Porzinghis backed Tatum with 19 points and also 11 rebounds while Jalen Brown was good for 16 points, 8 rebounds and team high 7 assists. Al Horford and Payton Pritchard scored 11 points each while Jrue Holiday and relief center Luke Kornet contributed 8 points each.
But again, Boston's latest scrambling performance only heightened speculations that the team is having a still unsorted jelling problems as Brown himself had earlier hinted. Which is quite paradoxical as the core of the squad that won the title last season is intact and healthy, especially Porzingis.
But then again, that fact could be the root of the problem as the Celts are not used to having Porzingis around this long. Some theorizes that Kristaps (and Tatum too) has the effect of slowing down the pace of the game many Celtics starters have grown used to for most of last season.
This game could be a barometer.
Trey Murphy came back from a two game suspension and played like an All-Star scoring a team high 30 points plus 7 rebounds and 4 assists, all above his season average to make up for the sub-par performance of team star Zion Williamson and give Boston a dogfight from the start.
He was supported by Dejounte Murray who tallied 26 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists who kept the Celtics busy until McCollum who finished with 13 nearly turned things around in the dying seconds of the game
Javonte Green added 10 points and Jose Alvarado chipped in 9 points
The Cavs (33-5) loss was only their fifth heading to the half of the season. The Celtics win up their record to 28-11, still 5.5 games behind Cleveland.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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