Hibbert continues to turn back challengers

The Pacers defeated to the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 91-76 in a special Wednesday afternoon game on New Year's Eve. The Pacers are now 25-5 while the Cavaliers are 10-21.
The Big Plays
The Pacers pulled away with a 19-6 run from the 10:26 mark of the fourth quarter until the 4-minute mark of the game. And has often been the case this season, only usually it has happened in the third quarter, Paul George played a key role in those game-deciding minutes by scoring eight of those 19 points. He started it with a three-point play and then scored five straight points later on to put the Pacers up by 11 and that was essentially the game as the Pacers outscored the Cavs 26-10 in the fourth quarter. George finished with a game-high 21 for the Pacers.
The Ups

Pacers center Roy Hibbert was up to the challenge against the Cavaliers.

1) It's not like Roy Hibbert had been missing in action or anything close to that in recent games. Offensively, there had been the combination of George and Lance Stephenson getting most of the attention and playing at a high level. Defensively, teams have learned to shy away from the middle when Hibbert is in there. It's a credit to the respect he has earned around the league and most teams simply don't test him, a big reason he had only had three or more blocks in a game just twice in the last 16 games. But the Cavaliers seemed to come in with the idea that they were going to challenge Hibbert Wednesday and he had three blocks in the first half and finished with five for the game, the eighth time this season he has had five or more in a game. Hibbert also made a major impact on the offensive end with 19 points. And what was especially significant is that a couple of times when the defense slacked off of Hibbert near the top of the key, he looked very comfortable stepping up and hitting that 18-foot shot. I'm not saying he's Rik Smits when it comes to hitting those kind of shots, or that the shot should be a first option, but the fact his confidence is growing at taking those, and he's making them more often, is a big plus for the Pacers offense because defenses are not going to come out that far to guard him. What any Pacers fan has to like about Hibbert though, is that he doesn't need a certain amount of touches on offense to play well. And also, that when the Pacers do have the mismatch advantage with Hibbert on offense, that he more often than not has delivered when called upon.
2) The defense here and especially that of point guard George Hill against the Cavaliers
 Kyrie Irving was a key factor in this game. Sure, it's never just one guy when comes to shutting down the opponent's best player, but it started with Hill. In Irving's previous three games he had scored 27, 32 and 40 points on 39 of 74 shooting from the field. On Wednesday afternoon, Irving finished 3-for-9 shooting with just 10 points. Yes, Irving missed a few minutes late in the game with a knee injury, but he seemed fine when he returned. The Pacers defense clearly made his basketball life difficult in this game. It was also the eighth time that the Pacers have held an opponent to 80 points or less this season.
3) This was without question Danny Granger's best game since he returned to the Pacers active roster. He finished with 12 points on 3-for-7 shooting, so the numbers don't jump off the page here. But he was more aggressive at taking the ball to the basket on offense and also seemed to fit better into what was going on when he was on the court. The previous four games, he seemed to be still trying to find his way out there. And yes, he does still have some more finding to do, but he took a big step in the right direction. Just for the record, in his five games back, the Pacers have won by 33, 27, 17, 14 and 15 points. A big percentage of that is coincidental, but part of it is not.
The Downs
1) The Pacers had some trouble keeping the Cavaliers off the offensive boards in this one. The Cavaliers had 12 offensive rebounds for the game and five of those came in the first quarter, when the Cavaliers scored 25 points. The Pacers got this area taken care of pretty much the rest of the game, but it was just a little reminder that it's an area they cannot let down in.
2) When you have the No. 1 overall pick in the draft these days you're not thinking that it's a project type situation. But it appears that's what has happened with the Cavaliers and rookie Anthony Bennett. He has not scored in 16 of the Cavaliers 31 games this season and was a virtual non-factor Wednesday afternoon. And for sure, numbers don't tell the whole story when it comes to rookies. Sometimes, you know a guy is going to be good, but maybe just needs some time to figure out the NBA style. I can't say that's the case with Bennett. After watching him in two games against the Pacers and here and there against other teams, the Cavaliers have to be wondering why they didn't take either of former Indiana University stars Victor Oladipo, who is averaging 13 points a game, or even Cody Zeller, who is averaging just under six points a game, but has shown he clearly belongs in the league and has plenty of room for growth.
Afterthoughts
Often on New Year's Eve, people like to look ahead and think about what they can do better. For the Pacers, maybe this is a time to look back for a second and see how far they have come. After 30 games last the season the Pacers had established themselves as a good team with a 17-13 record, but it was one game worse than the 18-12 mark from the previous year. And then three seasons ago, they were 13-17 when Jim O'Brien was still the so-called coach. So, just the fact they are eight games ahead of last season's mark is quite a statement and is proof there is genuine reason for Pacers fans to be excited for the possibilities of 2014.
Next Up
The Pacers travel to Toronto for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday night. The Raptors had a 13-15 record going into their Tuesday night game at Chicago. They had won four of their last five going into that contest. The Pacers defeated the Raptors 91-84 back on Nov. 8 when they improved their record to 6-0. The Raptors are led by DeMar DeRozan at 21 points per game, point guard Kyle Lowery at almost 16 points and over 7 assists, Amir Johnson at 11.5 points and 7 rebounds and Jonas Valanciunas at over 10 points and eight rebounds.