CLEVELAND: Kyrie Irving had the ball on the wing early in the first quarter Wednesday with the Cavs ahead and looking for more. The only thing standing between him and the basket was the Indiana Pacers’ 7-foot-2 All-Star center, Roy Hibbert.
Undaunted, Irving went right at him and scored over the top, which illustrates exactly where the Cavs and Pacers stand mentally right now.
Irving provided the jolt the Cavs needed in their 98-87 victory over the Pacers, who have dropped five in a row. Irving had 22 points and five assists and showed no ill-effects in his return from a concussion he suffered last week at the Miami Heat.
His most impressive play might have been attacking Hibbert, who offered little resistance as Irving signaled early on he was fully healthy.
“A prior concussion doesn’t mean my game is going to change in any way,” Irving said. “I’ve gone through the season attacking the basket and the concussion didn’t come from me driving to the basket.”
Irving missed a week, but it hardly showed. He made eight of his first 10 shots (three of his first 4 3-pointers), dazzled with his brilliant passes and pushed the tempo the way coach Byron Scott has been asking.
Anytime the Cavs caught the Pacers in transition, Irving was running them. He even made a star out of Semih Erden, who played his finest game of the season while matched against Hibbert.
Erden had season highs of 18 points and eight rebounds and played aggressively around the basket.
“I thought both [Irving and Erden] were fantastic,” Scott said. “Kyrie looked like he didn’t miss a beat and Semih played with the energy we’ve been talking about. He played a lot more efficient.”
Erden did well running the pick-and-roll with Irving, which was a cause for concern following Anderson Varejao’s wrist injury. The pick-and-roll between Irving and Varejao had become a staple of the Cavs’ offense, but the extended loss of Varejao left open the question of who would be Irving’s new partner.
Antawn Jamison was the most likely candidate, but Erden surprised by running a pick-and-roll perfectly on one of the game’s first possessions. He brought the energy Scott demands, fighting for loose balls, tipping rebounds out to teammates and finishing with strength around the basket while battling an All-Star.
“I know he’s a good player and their star player, but I was just trying to hustle and help my teammates,” Erden said. “I did a good job and we won the game, so I’m happy.”
The only sore spot for the Cavs was Daniel Gibson, who sprained his ankle in the third quarter when he landed awkwardly on Paul George’s foot following a shot.
X-rays were negative, but Gibson limped out of the arena Wednesday night with his foot in a walking boot. Gibson just recently returned from a neck injury, but it appears he’ll miss at least Friday’s game against LeBron James and the Heat.
“It’s frustrating because I felt like I was getting back in the groove and feeling good, but then something like that happened,” Gibson said. “[The pain] is pretty bad initially when you first roll it, but I’ve had this injury before. They said because I’ve had it before, I may heal from it a little quicker.”
The Pacers were playing Wednesday without leading scorer Danny Granger, who sprained his ankle in Tuesday’s loss to the Heat.
Granger, a Cavs killer throughout his career, tried shooting during pregame before ultimately deciding he couldn’t play. It left a gaping hole in a Pacers lineup that was difficult to fill.
The Cavs held the Pacers to just 38 points in the first half. The Pacers shot just 30 percent and had two assists in the half as the Cavs took a 56-38 lead into the third quarter.
“It was probably one of the better halves we’ve had on both ends of the floor,” Scott said.
The victory was the Cavs’ seventh by at least 10 points. Last year, they didn’t win a game by more than eight points until the 73rd game of the season. Much of that success is due to Irving.
He said he was symptom-free about three days after he was diagnosed, but was forced to follow the league’s lengthy protocol for players diagnosed with concussions.
“It was very mild,” Irving said, “but I still had to take the five-step process. I’m glad it’s over.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at http://cavs.ohio.com Follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ. Follow ABJ sports on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sports.abj.
