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.
4 straight missed from the line…
Now 5 straight
KLOVE with an excellent defensive possession.
JVG: “They’ve gotta get more guys playing better.” Oookay…
Hypothesis: Ty Lue’s in-game adjustment from the first to second quarters was to go up to LeBron and say, “Hey, so the Pacers have more points than us right now. Can you do something about that? We need more points than them to win.”
Ugh Hood. Gotta make fts
Love needs free throws. Gotta see the ball go through
That was ugly offense. Luckily LBJ caught that pass on drew a foul.
I think that was a shot if u talking about hill.
Oh… I thought it was a terrible alley oop pass… six in one half….
KLOVE WITH THE BLOCK! HOOD WITH THE TRANSITION FINISH!!!
Credit Indy. Their defensive scheme is designed to stop or at least make the one thing the Cavs do on offense in the half court extremely difficult. Basically playing a box and one when LBJ has the ball in the post. James getting ball high to counter.
Cavs just continuously letting guys walk into open shots.
Nice cut Hood… draws the foul.
KLOVE really struggling today.
James trying to bait Stephenson into doing something dumb
LBJ TAKING OVER!!!!
Nice cut Clarkson.
klove is ghosting this game, expect nothing from him
He’s working on D and he’s rebounding. Needs some shots to fall, though.
If we drop this game bc we can’t put up points, I can’t wait for some commentators to say that we shouldn’t have traded IT and Former MVP D-Rose.
Haha that’s amazing. We aren’t dropping this game
LeBron in from the bullpen, baby!! SSSSSSPRITE!!!
LBJ doing it all himself there on that possession.
Make that about the last three.
lol for sure.
JR matador D on Stevenson. Ridiculous!
shoukd be cedi time soon
He’s probably not in Lue’s 10 man rotation.
Should have been cedi time to start the game
let me know when playoff JR shows up. so far no D and passing on open 3’s
Pacers fastbreak and layup is the recurring theme.
If Bogdanovich and Stevenson are playing like this is GD NBA Jam out there!! Disgusting defense.
And we’re back to 17
Jr with an awful oop attemt
The Cavs strategy is to let Lance carve them up and build his confidence. Then he implodes the Pacers offense the rest of the series because he’s Lance.
This is insane. Cavs look slow and terrified
I’m just glad lebron isny trying to play the whole 1st half
They aren’t prepared. They have no idea what to do on offense since their offense is the occasional pin down for korver and LBJ mismatches and iso. No horns rub. No elbow sets for love or Nance. Their d is not really much improved either. They crammed for the test and it didn’t work.
What a trash lineup. JR, Clarkson, and Hood in the backcourt??? WTF???
It’s ridiculous that there’s no point guard…Hill or Calderon need to be on the floor if Lebron is off…
Hill doesn’t count IMO. Should be Calderon or LBJ at all times on the court.
Argh. This is maddening.
Bogdan should not be turning the corner on us.
Exactly.
Has anyone noticed Jeff Green yet? He has been invisible
I’ve noticed how crappy he’s been.
Well…yes. I just haven’t seen anything positive yet.
But that’s not saying much after that first quarter.
I’ve noticed that he got a rebound.
Get Calderon in there!!!! There’s no PG!!!
Sometimes it seems like JVG and Mark Jackson don’t fully understand the rules…the call on the screen wasn’t a moving screen it was that the screener leaned forward and used his forearms to block Hill in the back knocking him down which is absolutely a foul…if he had kept his arms unit would’ve been clean…
Yeah they dont pay enough attention to hear explanations
Totally disagree with the announcers on that screen call. You can’t load up and cross check a guy even if you’re set.
Bron is going to explode as soon as he comes back in if we are still on run. He LOVES the climb!!
Jackson is insufferable.
yeah i thought he was out for burke?
Signs of life. Got a break on that screen call.
At least Lue has realized TT should sit.
So far….
Oh boy
Hyper extended maybe
Who hyper extended?
Hill. Dunno. Just a guess. Was holding that knee after the screen.
Nice drive JR!
LBJ sits. This should be interesting without the Cavs having an offense.
Clarkson probably should’ve kicked it out to JR on the perimeter there.
Bron asking out after playing the first 14 minutes.
Signs of life, however.
Joseph fouled lebron on purpose in transition to stop a bucket. No call
Lance taking shots like that should help
Damn… at least JR took the open 3.
LBJ nice finish.
The Cavs better put in some sets with off ball movement between now and the end of the game. Too easy to key in on James right now.
Defense was ok for about the first 5 and then we got the Cavs we know and love on that end. Feeling this could be a long series and pacers have a legit shot.
6 TOs that quarter… unacceptable.
So, when I said Indy had a legit shot to win the series, I believe Nate took some shots (or was it EG). Good for a laugh, you said.
Laughing now?
Or you could just admit I have a more astute basketball mind. I doubt that will happen.
Ahhhh I mean, why run it in?
*rub
maybe wait on the victory lap till at least game 1 is over?
Oh, I am not saying the Pacers will win. I said they have a legit shot.
Nate laughed at it. It was a stupid comment by him at the time. It is dumb now. It will remain dumb when the game/series is over. No matter how it turns out.
Pacers have a legit shot to win this. Whether they do or not, who knows?
You are attributing something to me that I did not say, and I do not appreciate it.
Missed some early looks – should be down about 10. far from good but not yet apocalypse now
Really tough to lose Hood and Love to foul trouble. and to lose JR Smith’s three point stroke to his apparent need to dribble drive
Oladipo, Stephenson, Turner, and Bogdonavic leading the charge for Indiana.
Nance showing he should’ve been starting for the last three weeks.
For the love of God, don’t ever start Jeff Green again. Is Lue really that dumb?
Well that was an embarrassing first quarter. Hopefully Lue gets fired during halftime.
Short of LBJ going down with an injury, that first Quarter of the Playoffs couldn’t have gone any worse!
Basic
It’s clear Lue didn’t do his job. Team is completely unprepared.
This is the worst playoff showing I’ve ever seen to start this quarter. What a disgrace. Better get their stuff together or they will be blown off the court to start the playoffs off right…
Jr unwilling to take a 3
WTF???????
LNJ only guy trying right now for the Cavs.
Damn LeBron and his crappy closeouts
Yup this is still the same Cavs defense.
Good old fashioned butt whooping this qtr.
Jeff Green has been an absolute disaster this quarter.
this is really bad
That rectangular hole is now 3 feet deep.
The Cavs look totally unprepared. Either that or utterly incapable. I’m hoping it’s the former.