Cavaliers lose big at Indiana

By Mary Schmitt Boyer

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Indianapolis

For 20 minutes, it was tough to tell which team was fighting for a playoff spot Friday night in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

The Cavaliers were clicking on offense, closing on defense and cruising to a 14-point lead against the Indiana Pacers.

But after building a 32-18 advantage midway through the second quarter, the Cavs were outscored by the Pacers, 23-11, the rest of that period and 34-13 in the third quarter as Indiana clinched a playoff spot with an easy 102-83 victory.

“The third quarter is really what got us out of the game,” said Cavs forward Antawn Jamison, who scored his 12 points in the first half and played just 9:31 in the second. “We did a bad job of playing 48 minutes.”

Omri Casspi led the Cavs with 14 points, Donald Sloan scored 12, and Samardo Samuels had 10 points and 10 rebounds as Cleveland fell to 19-38.

Danny Granger had 18 points, Tyler Hansbrough 16 and George Hill 15 for the Pacers (37-22), who have the third-best record in the Eastern Conference behind Chicago and Miami. Roy Hibbert had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Cavs had taken the Pacers to overtime before losing Wednesday night in Cleveland, but Jamison didn’t think Indiana did anything differently Friday night.

“Nope,” he said. “We knew the game plan coming in. They just stepped it up in the third quarter, and we did a bad job of communicating on the defensive end.”