(Ed note: Mini recap by Jared Wade. Player grades by Tim Donahue.)
Really not much to analyze here. The Cavs scored 32 points in the first quarter and the Pacers scored 38 in the first half. Them’s the makings of an Indiana blow-out 98-87 loss to Cleveland that really was never even as close as the final score suggested. David West was terrible early, Paul George tried in vein vain to put the team on his back late, and Semih Erden dominated the game. Yup. That happened.
Kyrie Irving really is quite good and he played some excellent ball, hitting shots and running a superb pick-and-roll against a defense that made it very easy for him to do both. But that can’t excuse this. Indiana needed a win in a huge way after dropping 4 straight games and getting completely undressed by the Heat — for the second time this season — last night. Instead, they never showed up and let the Cavs feel like the best team in the NBA for a night.
The results: they have now lost 5 games in a row after going into last friday not having lost even 2 straight.
A team that was once a world-beater at 17-7 is now tail-spinning at 17-12 and has to head home to face the New Jersey Nets tomorrow on the final night of a back-to-back-to-back stretch. Beating the Nets in Indianapolis shouldn’t be a problem for this team no matter the brutality that is playing three games in three nights. Or so we thought.
Funny what seven days can change.
It was all good just a week ago.
Here is how each guy played individually tonight. Agree? Disagree? Express your thoughts below in the comments or yell at me (@8pts9secs) or Tim (@TimDonahue8p9s) on Twitter.
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David West - 26 MIN | 4-15 FG | 10 REB | 0 AST | 10 PTS Weird game. Spent the 1st quarter missing reasonable looks off the front rim. That, as much as anything, is probably why the Pacers were out of this one early. Chipped in some 3rd quarter offense that went for naught, and did get a double-double, but that 1st quarter kills. |
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Dahntay Jones - 37 MIN | 1-8 FG | 5 REB | 0 AST | 3 PTS Bad game, but basically, it’s asking too much for him to start and play 37 minutes. He’ll have to get in line behind about four guys, before you can lay the blame on him for tonight’s debacle. |
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Roy Hibbert - 33 MIN | 7-15 FG | 3-3 FT | 8 REB | 1 AST | 17 PTS Decent line but its gets neutralized by the fact that Semih Erden hung 18 & 8 on him. Besides, watching Roy try to defend the pick-and-roll then recover is like watching Marlon Brando’s death scene from The Godfather—if Brando didn’t have the orange rinds and was a little bit slower. |
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Darren Collison - 33 MIN | 7-12 FG | 4-4 FT | 2 TO | 3 AST | 18 PTS Originally thought I was going to give him a B, because he was basically the only guy who showed up for the first 3 quarters, but: 3 assists, 2 turnovers and a willing participant in the Pacers’ lack of participation at the defensive end. |
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Paul George - 25 MIN | 4-14 FG | 2-6 FT | 8 REB | 4 PF | 11 PTS The grade may be overly generous, but while Collison was the only one who showed up for 3 quarters, Paul might have been the only one who actually gave a hoot. With 3 early fouls, he was a non-factor, but he found it in the 4th and threatened to drag the Pacers back into it. |
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Louis Amundson - 14 MIN | 2-5 FG | 4 REB | 1 AST | 4 PTS 3 blocks. Made the rim “flinch” on one missed shot, as noted by Indy Cornrows’ Tom Lewis. Killed a baseline photographer with another. Just another day at the office for Lou. |
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A.J. Price - 21 MIN | 3-5 FG | 2-2 FT | 2 REB | 2 AST | 11 PTS Played OK. |
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Tyler Hansbrough - 20 MIN | 0-3 FG | 4-8 FT | 4 REB | 0 AST | 4 PTS The 4th featured 2 signature Tyler plays: One where he lost the ball falling down for no reason and one where he butchered what should have been a nice feed from George for an and-one. His offense has been insufficient for awhile now, and tonight it didn’t even seem that he brought energy to the floor. Tyler’s play is worrisome. |
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Jeff Pendergraph, F 3 MIN | 0-0 FG | 0 REB | 0 AST | 0 PTS Irrelevant. |
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Lance Stephenson - 29 MIN | 4-10 FG | 0-0 FT | 1 REB | 1 AST | 9 PTS At one point, he was Indy’s leading scorer. Hit his first trey, but atoned by missing one by a 3 feet later. May have a worse jump shot than Lou. So much there, but not translating into results. |
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Player to Beware: Lester Hudson
by Jonathan Auping on April 11, 2012 at 5:38 pm · 3 comments
Hopefully Coach Vogel’s scouting report is up to date because the Cavaliers will likely give a lot of minutes over the next two games to a player who wasn’t even on their roster about two weeks ago. His name is Lester Hudson. Heard of him? Probably not; he’s on his second 10-day contract, he doesn’t play in the Big Apple, his name doesn’t fit perfectly into cool puns, and I wasn’t able to find any stories about him sleeping on anyone’s couch.
But his story is still a great one. Hudson played college ball at the University of Tennessee-Martin which you’ve probably heard of if you went to the University of Tennessee-Martin. He was drafted by Boston at the end of the 2nd round but was never given much of a chance with the Celtics. Since then, he has had stints with world renowned teams including the Maine Red Claws, the Dakota Wizards, the Guandong Southern Tigers, Qingdao DoubleStar, and the Austin Toros. He also had short stays with the Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards.
Then the Cleveland Cavaliers called on March 30 and offered him a 10-day contract. Coach Byron Scott gave him limited minutes in his first four games, and Hudson made decent contributions for a midseason pickup. But last Friday, the 6’3 guard got 32 minutes against the Toronto Raptors. He responded with 23 points, 7 assists and 3 steals. Two night later against the Nets, he dropped 26 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. And then his most complete game came against Charlotte with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
Hudson will probably never be the superstar that Jeremy Lin became, but his story is inspiring all the same. He is currently serving his second 10-day contracts with Cleveland (Lester tweeted on Monday, “my past 10 days was great hopefully my nexts 10 days will b much better lets go Cavs!!!! #teamhudson”). In order for the Cavs to keep Hudson beyond this contract they will have to sign him for the remainder of the season. If they decide to sign him to a contract for next year it might finally mean some security for Lester.
If Hudson keeps up the strong production then he could easily become the Jeremy Lin for NBA snobs. Kind of like when a musician or director becomes too mainstream for some snobby fans. You know, “Oh you still listen to 50 Cent? I liked him back when he was underground. I’m all about Kendrick Lamar now.” Lester Hudson’s Twitter avatar is a picture of him when he was still with the Wizards. Why do I think that’s cool? I’m not sure, but I do know his profile says, “work hard never give up on what u love 2 do or your dreams.”
Label me inspired.
Of course, he isn’t flawless. If Lin’s Kryptonite is turnovers then Lester’s is shooting percentage. He shoots at a high volume even when the shots aren’t dropping. But some of that can be attributed to the lack of scoring options on the Cavs, and he makes up for this flaw with his high activity on both ends of the floor.
The Pacers have two very winnable games coming up against Lester’s Cavaliers, but if anyone thinks Cleveland will bow down and let them win, they are wrong; Lester Hudson certainly won’t. He is playing every game like his career is on the line — because it is. Byron Scott is also not the kind of coach that lets his team give anything less than 100%.
This is where I like to use the term “professionals.” The Pacers have to be professionals in these two games. They aren’t going to get a whole lot of credit for winning both games and they will be criticized for losing. But that’s because they are better than this team and a high level of execution and effort will be enough to win.
I understand that we can’t expect the Pacers to get up for this game the same as if they were playing the Heat or Thunder, but these games are important in a tight playoff race and the level of play has to be high going into the postseason. They don’t need to blow out Cleveland twice in a row, but they need to bring enough to the table so that Lester Hudson’s fairytale story doesn’t reach another miraculous chapter at their expense.
Related Topics: Byron Scott, Cleveland Cavaliers, Jeremy Lin, Lester Hudson
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