CLEVELAND – Offensively, the Pacers didn’t suffer any let up without their key backup Tyreke Evans, who was serving a one-game suspension for a “pattern” of breaking team guidelines.

They shot 65 percent from the field in the first half against the winless Cavaliers, who kept it close until the third quarter when the Pacers created a gap that couldn’t be overcome in Saturday’s 119-107 victory at Quicken Loans Arena.

"They outworked us, especially in the first half," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "They ended up with 16 offensive rebounds and really out-scrapped us. But I thought our guys hung in there and did the things we needed to win this game. We got stops when we needed to. We kept working and was able to really just wear them down and score the ball.

"Our execution was better. Twenty-eight assists. Good ball movement and we did a good job recognizing where we had matchups."

Victor Oladipo (24 points, six assists, three steals), Bojan Bogdanovic (25 points), Myles Turner (15 points), Domantas Sabonis (15 points), Darren Collison (15 points, six assists, three steals) and Cory Joseph (seven points, five assists, five rebounds, three steals) led the effort as the Pacers end this road trip 2-1.

"This is the second game we've been moving the ball pretty well," Collison said. "Kudos to us. We keep moving the ball like this, we're going to be tough to beat. You can say what you want about Cleveland, but I feel like they played hard today. They had nothing to lose. Those are some of the games that are hard to get over. You don't want to make it a trap game. You go out there and play hard."

The Cavs were led by Rodney Hood (17 points), Larry Nance (15 points, 12 rebounds) and George Hill (14 points).

The Pacers (4-2) extended a 60-55 halftime lead to 81-66 midway through the third until the Cavs fought back with a 17-7 run.

It didn't take long for the Pacers lead to grow back to double digits in the fourth, where it remained.

>Much like their team last season with LeBron James, the Cavs switch more than they probably should and that gave the Pacers size mismatches in the low post. They attacked them with Thaddeus Young (10 points) in particular. He originally was being marked by Sam Dekker, a forward who has a significant strength disadvantage. That’s why the Pacers shot 65 percent from the field (48 of 74) and only took 13 3s — 19 fewer than in their blowout of the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.. They were taking what the Cavs' defense gave them. When they were able to stretch the lead to 15 in the third, the Pacers punished the Cavs for sending help to their guards when defending Young. The ball found the open man as they coasted the rest of the way.

"We just played through the opportunities that were given to us," Young said. "Especially int he second half, we knew we had to slow it down when they were switching just roll a guy to the post. play out of the post if they don't double I get easy layups. If they do, we just take what's given to us."

>The Cavs’ rebounding is what kept them alive. They punished the Pacers with second-chance points (18-8) because of their advantage on the boards (39-24). The Cavs sent numbers which meant if they failed to get the ball it wouldn’t be possible for them to get back in transition. The Pacers got those points back in fast breaks (20-6).

>Evans is expected to return for Monday’s home game vs. the Portland Trail Blazers. "We got guidelines that we have to follow and when you start to see a pattern with those guidelines being broken you have to be disciplined," McMillan said before tipoff. "That was the situation. We're talking about places you need to be and be there. We all live by laws and guidelines in this world."

McMillan was taken aback a few weeks ago when he was asked about Evans preferring to save his energy for games because he wasn't fond of practices. “He told you that?” McMillan said. The surprise in his voice was evident that his 6-6 combo guard admitted it. McMillan had already seen Evans in that mode and had talked to him about it.

“We’ve heard that. The thing is preparing yourself. That’s part of the things we’ve talked to guys coming to us. We don’t prepare like that,” McMillan said. “We don’t flip the switch, getting ourselves ready when the lights are on. We prepare ourselves in practice. We condition ourselves to learn to work together so once we get out on the floor what we’re asking you to do we’ve already seen you do that. We’re working on that.”