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CLEVELAND (AP) – Cleveland Cavaliers striker Kevin Love was injured on foot by a foot injury for the 119-107 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday night. The loss allowed Cleveland to score 0-6 this season, its worst start since the loss of its first seven games in 1995.
Love, who leads the team with 19 points per game, also missed Thursday's game against Detroit. Love has missed three of the Cavaliers' four exhibition games because of the injury, and it's unclear when he'll be back.
"He tried to play knowing that we did not win a match and we were a bit in trouble," Lue said. "He wanted to be on the ground and try to make a difference, we congratulate him for that, and we just hope he can recover quickly."
The Cavaliers are struggling to adjust without LeBron James, who signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in free mode.
Cleveland made 18 turnovers that earned him 30 points and allowed Indiana to shoot 65% (48 of 74) of the pack.
"Our margin of error is reduced," said Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue. "It's very thin."
Cleveland reduced its lead by 15 points to 97-91 early in the fourth quarter before Indiana regained control with four consecutive baskets. Darren Collison scored on a layup and a rider, Oladipo hit a 12 foot footer and Domanta Sabonis scored in the lane.
Sabonis did another lay-up and Oladipo's 3-pointer with 3:58 left pushed his head to 113-98.
Indiana (4-2) placed six players in double digits. Collison, Myles Turner and Sabonis each scored 15 points, while Thaddeus Young added 10 points.
"We did not want to make it a trap game," said Collison. "All the NBA teams are respectable, no matter who's out there, they played as hard as we did tonight."
Rodney Hood led Cleveland with 17 points while Larry Nance Jr. left the bench to score 15 points.
The information provided by the Associated Press has been used in this report.
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