George scores 17 as Pacers top Cleveland 107-85

Starters have passed in and out of the lineup like cameos because of injuries and the oddly loaded schedule.

Nothing is etched in stone, but the four-time league MVP sat out a 107-85 preseason loss to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night at Quicken Loans Arena and may not appear in Cleveland’s final two exhibition games. Coach David Blatt indicated Thursday James wouldn’t play again until the Bulls. But he’s got a point this time, when he used it as an excuse for another lackluster outing by the Cavs backups. He came in great shape.

“Mo’s a veteran player”, Blatt said of Williams.

Indiana forward Paul George led the way with 17 points on five-of-16 shooting from the floor, including a two-for-five mark from three-point range. “I know come October 28, he’s going to be ready”. And I completely understand.

After being outscored in each of the first two quarters, the Cavaliers played even with the Pacers in the third period, as both teams scored 20 points. The Cavaliers had just 1 fast break point, while shooting 27.3% from the field. In the first one, Blatt acknowledged that Mozgov isn’t where he wants to – or eventually will be physically after off-season knee surgery. He went through surgery this summer, and he’s battling back from that. He’s experiencing his better days and his less good days. He doesn’t know how many minutes he can count on Thompson playing.

His back has been troublesome over the past two seasons, and it was part of the reason he was shut down for two weeks midway through last season.

Time will tell if the Paul-George-at-the-4 thing is a good idea, whether they can be effective at either end with a big man rotation that will rely heavily on Jordan Hill and Ian Mahinmi playing big minutes, and if they really have the perimeter shooting to play as small as they seem to desire. The Pacers will need more efficient games such as this out of Mahinmi if they are to have any sort of chance against paint pounding opponents. Joe Harris made a lovely steal, then mistimed his jump and wound up blocked by the rim. Mahinmi’s athleticism was on display and for tonight looked the ideal starting center for Indiana’s offense, especially if he catches passes as well as tonight.

Dionte Christmas pitched in with nine points of his own and Jared Cunningham, who’s had a pretty strong preseason himself, led both squads with eight assists in a team-high 29 minutes.