Postgame Quick Hits from a competitive Cavalier victory over the Pacers, helping the Cavaliers secure the best record in the NBA and homecourt advantage throughout the Playoffs:

The Good:

-  LeBron James finished with 37 points, five rebounds and five assists, highlighted by a couple of monster dunks off of Mo Williams passes.  

-  Anderson Varejao may have been the only starter not to score in double-digits, but he was a huge factor in this game, getting to the loose balls and rebounds that helped the Cavaliers keep the Pacers at bay.  Andy finished with 7 points, 11 rebounds and 4 steals, and his energy was off the charts.  The Pacers had no answer for the way he was going after the ball.

-  There wasn’t a slouch over the other three starters either, with Delonte West dropping 20 points, Mo Williams adding 18 points and Zydrunas Ilgauskas contributing 16 more.  The starters combined to shoot 33-for-67 (49%) from the field.

The Bad:

-  The Cavs allowed 37 points in the third quarter.  Not unexpected on the second night of a back-to-back to have an energy lull, but it’s still not something to be proud of.

-  While the starters were excellent, the bench left something to be desired, scoring just 19 points combined.  This after a day of 35 combined bench points yesterday.

The Questions:

-  Didn’t I tell you that Danny Granger was a special scorer?  Granger dropped 38 points tonight, scoring from all over, including a nifty little 10-foot pull-up jumper that Cavs fans would love to see LeBron add to his reperatoire.  I would put Granger on the same level as Carmelo Anthony, but like Anthony, Granger might be better off as a second-fiddle scorer while another player takes on the leadership role.

-  Did anyone know that Brandon Rush could score like that (28 points tonight)?  Rush was a star at Kansas, but he slipped to the end of the lottery (13th overall), where Indiana snapped him up.  Rush is averaging 16.3 points per game over the last twelve games, including a pair of 29-point outings last month.  

-  Now that the Cavs have clinched the best record in the NBA, how do you feel about Wednesday’s game?  Do you care about matching the best home record in NBA history, or do you want the Cavs to fold up the tent and call it a regular season?

-  Looks like the Cavs will face the Pistons in thee first round this season.  How do you feel about that?

Go Cavs.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 11:35 pm and is filed under Postgame Quick Hits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.