Cavaliers clinch playoff spot with 15th straight home victory
The Cleveland Cavaliers officially punched their ticket to the postseason with a nail-biting 95-92 win against the Indiana Pacers on Friday.
Despite feeling the effects of a head cold, LeBron James managed to score a game-high 29 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Cavaliers to victory. James also chipped in with seven rebounds and five assists.
"(Making the playoffs) is a huge accomplishment for our team," James said. "For me, I don't look too far into it. But for our team, for the guys that have never been in the postseason, I don't think they should take that for granted. It's a huge thing for those guys and I'm happy I was able to be a part of it."
"You're not going to get any roses for it," said Cavs head coach David Blatt, "but, you know, that was our first goal when I came here."
Cleveland jumped out to a quick lead in the first quarter behind a strong showing from Timofey Mozgov. The Russian center outplayed Pacers pivot Roy Hibbert on both ends of the floor, as he used his quickness to beat Hibbert's size advantage.
However, the Pacers tightened up their defense by slowing down the pace and settled into a see-saw affair. Indiana chipped away Cleveland's lead with its grind-it-out style of plodding, half-court defense, before heading into the fourth quarter in a tie.
That set the stage for James to take over. LeBron dropped 11 straight points to push the Cavaliers ahead late in the fourth.
But despite James's dominance, the Pacers still had a shot at the win. With 38 seconds left, Pacers guard George Hill missed a 24-foot 3-pointer that would have put Indiana up by two. Instead, the Cavaliers secured the rebound and managed to hang on for the win.
Indiana was led in scoring by Hill, who scored 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting. Hibbert added 20 points in the losing effort.
The victory was the Cavaliers' 15th straight win at home and gives Cleveland their first postseason appearance since 2010.
"It feels good," said Kevin Love. "I'm sure Kyrie (Irving), (Matthew) Dellavedova and Tristan (Thompson) all said the same thing. We still have a lot of work to do."
"Us making the playoffs for the first time is an awesome thing," Irving added. "I can't wait for them."