Playoff Live Thread: Cavs vs Pacers
2018-04-15
We’ve been waiting for 10 months. The NBA’s second season officially starts today for the Cavs, and we’ll shortly know whether Cleveland’s regular season issues were just due to malaise or if this roster is fatally flawed. For Indiana, it’s their chance to put the ghost of Paul George behind them, and for Victor Oladipo to make playoff hay.
The Cavs official starting lineup is George Hill, Rodney Hood, LeBron James, Jeff Green, and Kevin Love. For Indy, we’re gonna see Darren Collison, Victor Oladipo, Bojan Bogdanovic, Thaddeus Young, and Myles Turner. The Cavs are finally healthy (knock on wood) with a full lineup for the first time in forever, and Indy is by all accounts healthy as well.
When they last met, Cleveland won 115-108, despite Vic’s 25-6-7 line. Part of that was due to the Cavs’ trapping Oladipo and forcing him into four turnovers.Of course that was against a different Cavs team that even got 14 unexpected points from Derrick Rose. Now, the Cavs are longer and faster, and should be able to disrupt passing lanes and recover from traps and doubles more quickly. Expect the Cavs to make Thad Young beat them, as he he’s only shooting 32% from three.
Expect the Pacers to try to force the ball inside to Myles Turner, who they have to feel has an advantage over Kevin Love and Jeff Green. The Pacers other big “advantage” is that they’re one of the best mid-range shooting teams in the league. Turner is a great example of this, as there are no spots inside the arc where he shoots less than 41% (basketball reference). Guarding these Pacers everywhere is a good plan that is tough to execute. To that effect, consistent communication on switches would also be really nice.
The other key is controlling the defensive boards. The Pacers are 17th in the NBA on the o-boards, as is Cleveland. But as we’ve seen, the Cavs can lose track of athletic bigs and wings from the weak side and it has cost them games. Hopefully they’ve been doing box-out drills to control the boards. For my Money, Kevin Love is most important this game on those D-Boards.
For Cleveland, a consistent George Hill, a structured offense for Nance, Clarkson, and Hood, as well as an absence of Tristan Thompson are keys. Oh, and that LeBrob James guy. Prediction: 120-108 Cavs.
Terrible lineup out there right now. No shooting except for JR and LBJ.
Pacers apparently can gameplan for teams too. Scheme is basically the same as warriors 2015 and Spurs 2007.
Exactly, McMillan already showing Lue how to coach.
Green late on the defensive rotation weakside.
No surprise there.
Good lord
God… Cavs weren’t even gaurding Oladipo on that miss.
Are they gonna guard, Oladipo?
The Pacers are getting great shots and the Cavs can’t get a decent look.
Pacers game planned for James isos and backdowns. No other playmaker to account for if you wall him off to force a pass. Offense is basic as heck. Finally coming back to bite us.
Nice rebound Green.
Nice timeout for the Cavs.
Holy garbage refs…just make a choice.
He nutted him.
Why did he reach for his face?
Teams can really really key into LBJ now without fear of someone else creating something. At least that is what my strategy would be. Worst case scenario a long cross court pass which you can get to by the time a guy is ready to shoot.
Pacers smart. Creating a wall with four guys on James isos that only allows a pass to a guy they can easily rotate to.
LBJ has not taken a shot attempt.
Geez. It’s almost like Jeff Green isn’t that good of a player.
Klove missed some to start, we can turn this ship. defense looks somewhat reasonable. bron should start shooting soon id think, just trying to get the team going
Green utterly useless right now.
Swish time.
Cavs need to value the ball more.
They are not taking the Pacers seriously. But again that’s a habit from the regular season.
Yeah…nance should start over green in all universes
Playoff skip passes equal one pass, one contested shot.
TWO MAN GAME!!! LBJ AND LNJ!!!
Pacers are more aggressive. Down 14.
LeBron needs to be more aggressive.
Did the Cavs know that the playoffs began?
Oladipo getting super star call there.
Well…weird. three garbage calls in a row
Pacers energy insane
Digging a rectangular hole again. About a foot down so far.
Calderone immediately takes control of things. Gotta love smarts
CALDERON!!
Jeez. Wtf, Cavs.
What a pass! Nice hands and finish LNJ!!!
Thank goodness Calderon’s in… finally a real PG.
What is this offense. George hill just spent 8 seconds waiting for Nance to set a pick all they get is a pass to a covered korver who throws it away
Not a eurostep just a travel.
What’s with all the home run passes down court and incessant three point attempts? No dribble drives, no pick and roll
WOW.. easy floater and Hill airballs it???
6 turnovers in 7 minutes — this is when a few minutes of Calderon could be useful.
Hill at the point doesn’t work just like Clarkson at the point. LBJ needs to run things.
Haha this is brutal start
Cavs sloppy.
Gotta feeling LNJ for Green will be a good thing.
4 pts in 6 minutes. Awesome.
They got super lucky going under on Collison there.
Bledsoe not covering himself in glory in the other game. Fouled out. 9 pts. 5 TOs.
Ice cold to start. Sloppy O. Bet LeBron gets a bucket here to settle them down.
Our offense is so basic. Gotten a few semi open looks that haven’t gone down though. None of them were wide open really except the hood transition three.
Sloppy early. Ignoring Kev to feed Green for the most part.
The Cavs are playing too slow.
Cavs out of sorts to start this game…no one really rebounding or moving
Ty Lue factor.
LBJ pass a little off target there to Green. Every single playoff game I’ve seen has had sloppy starts.
Might be time to go inside.
Cavs look tight. They’re getting good shots that will start falling.
Green can’t make a simple post entry pass to LBJ with a mismatch.
Cavs have had like four rim-outs so far
Cavs a little over-amped Missed everything outside so far.
See, that’s why that first foul by hood was dumb. Now he has two.
GEORGE CLIMBS THE HILL FOR THE DUNK!
Dumb foul, hood.
Way to get on the floor, Kev.
Haha. Oldadipo heard footsteps on that drive.
nice downscreen for Hood.
Turner is very good at that elbow J.
Terrible d on both those shots in boston.
MIDDLETON! What a shot.
Celtics Bucks coming down to wire
Cavs need to force someone other than Oladipo to beat them….trap him…harass…press..and get him in foul trouble…there is no other pacer that scares me enough
Can Paul Pierce disappear? ABC consistently hires the worst talent for NBA.
I see the Celtics and the Sixers and I wonder if this will the Cavs last season being relevant in the Eastern conference? Even if LeBron stays that is. Both of those teams are going to be really good next season if they stay healthy.
Could be. May factor into his decision to stay or go. This roster will need to perform well this playoffs. Hopefully, Lue’s decions enhance rather than hamper it.
Agreed.
Man. Milwaukee is not great. I’m kind of happy the Cavs didn’t get Bledsoe, TBH.
In the vein of guards with similar reps, Holiday is way better. Not that we could get him. I just associate both of those guys as athletic guards who can give you points and defend. Holiday is actually a great defender. Bledsoe may be rep.