CLEVELAND – The Cavaliers hosted the Indiana Pacers Sunday evening at the Q and won their sixth straight game, 101-97, to improve to 6-1 on the season.
It was a physical game right from tipoff as both teams found themselves in early foul trouble and at the Cavs led at the end of the first quarter 24-22.
Cavs’ big man Timofey Mozgov was a focal point of the offense in the first half, and even hit his first three-pointer of his tenure in Cleveland. Mozgov scored all of his nine points on the night in the first half.
Paul George came out hot for the Pacers, fresh off of scoring 36 points Friday night against Miami, and George led all scorers at halftime with 15 points, but picked up three fouls in the first half.
LeBron James continued where he left off Friday night against Philadelphia, in which he scored 31 points, and James had 14 points in the first half to help the Cavs lead 47-42 at halftime.
The Pacers jumped out to a 7-0 run to start the second half, and the lead would bounce back and forth early in the third quarter, but the Cavs would pull away to take an 11-point lead with just over three minutes to play in the third.
George and Monta Ellis combined for 21 of Indiana’s 31 points in the quarter, and would propel the Pacers to cut into the deficit, and the Cavs entered the fourth quarter with a 74-73 lead.
George and Ellis accounted for 57 of Indiana’s total points on the night, George with 32, Ellis with 25.
The Cavs would maintain the lead most of the fourth quarter until Monta Ellis put the Pacers ahead 90-88 with just over four minutes remaining.
Cleveland answered back, going on a 7-0 run and would hang on to close out the game winning 101-97. LeBron and Kevin Love scored the Cavs’ final nine points of the game.
The big story of the second half was Love, who scored 19 of his 22 points after halftime. Love finished with his fifth double double of the season in just seven games, hauling in a season-high 19 rebounds.
Part of Love’s big second half might be credited to LeBron trying to inspire him to play better during halftime.
LeBron told reporters after the game, “I just thought his energy was a little low offensively, so I just told him to get his motor going offensively.”
LeBron led the team in scoring with 29 points on the night, and has scored 20 or more points six of seven games to start the season.
The Cavs finish their four-game homestand Tuesday night against the Utah Jazz at 7 PM.
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