Dribbles: Cavs Lite put up admirable fight, ultimately fall to determined Pacers

Random dribbles following the Cavaliers’ 114-112 road loss to the Indiana Pacers on Thursday. …

1. Kenny Atkinson was ejected from a game that meant nothing to the Cavs.

2. Hey, what’s not like?

3. Seriously, though. You have to love the passion and grit displayed by the Cavs in uniform. After all, four starters — Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Max Strus — were not.

4. That was by design, as the Cavs (63-17) have bigger goals in mind than beating the Pacers. But the Cavs almost did it anyway.

5. At one point, in the third quarter, the Cavs led by 10. Indiana raced back to tie it up, and that’s when Atkinson got ejected. And good for him. The officiating, by and large, was atrocious for long stretches.

6. It just goes to show that Atkinson isn’t going out there to lose — even though the Cavs have already secured the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. He was coaching like it was a Game 7, and the guys who did play approached it the same way.

7. Best pals Ty Jerome and De’Andre Hunter started and were brilliant. Jerome went for 24 points, Hunter for 23 and 11 rebounds, and had they been in there at the end, the Cavaliers may have pulled off the stunner.

8. A stunner, because the Pacers (49-31) needed a win Tuesday to secure home-court advantage in the first round. They played all their main guys — and almost blew it to Cavs Lite.

9. Indiana can now finish no worse than fourth. It can still climb as high as third, but will need to win the final two games — and hope New York loses its final two. So the Pacers will be rooting for the Cavs on Friday, when they visit Madison Square Garden.

10. Anyway, back to this one. The Cavs had their chances, with the outcome not being decided until Jaylon Tyson missed a shot at the buzzer. Overall, a very fun game that meant nothing to Cleveland and a whole lot to Indiana.

11. Craig Porter Jr. was excellent with 16 points in reserve, Sam Merrill got the start and was very good, scoring 15 on 5-of-8 shooting on 3-pointers. Isaac Okoro scored 13, Dean Wade had eight and Jarrett Allen grabbed 10 rebounds in 16 minutes.

12. I’m not sure who the Cavs will put on the floor for the final two games, but I can guarantee one of those players will be Allen. As you know, he wants to play all 82.

13. Anyway, you also had to like what you saw from Tristan Thompson (12 rebounds in 20 minutes) and Javonte Green (lots of hustle). This is what’s made this season so much fun in Cleveland. Depth, resiliency, belief.

14. Jerome isn’t likely to play in either of the final two games. Hunter and others could be out of the rotation, too. Atkinson has said he’s not worried about any sort of rust. “We’ll have seven days to prepare,” he said. “We can do a lot of things to get ready.”

15. Until then, let’s hope for two more games like the one on Thursday. When it comes to regular-season losses, that’s about as good as it gets.

• Box Score | Pacers 114, Cavs 112
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