Live Thread: Pacers @ Cavs
2025-04-13Good afternoon CtB!
The Cavs welcome Central Division rival Indiana Pacers to the thawing banks of the Cuyahoga River to wrap up the 2024-25 NBA regular season and begin their playoff journey. For the Cavs, it’s been a historic ride this year and expectations are sky high in The Land that the good guys are on the precipice of a post-LeBron dynasty for the rest of the decade. But first, a classic divisional rivalry to get the competitive juices flowing.
Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00PM Eastern time and will be broadcasted live on Fanduel Sports Network, Go Cavs!
INJURY REPORT: Cavs are loading managing their top nine rotation, Pacers are load managing their starting lineup.
Good game
Thoroughly entertaining. I’m voting for triple OT.
Amen.
Man thatcwas a lucky deflection for a bucket as the shot clock expired.
Niang misses, Heat up 1.
Yeah 2 lucky bounces in the last few minutes
Omg Georges with the game on the line.
Niang. Tough miss.
Oh man Niang misses that bunny.
That wasn’t a bunny.
That shot is why I favor using the square
As AC would say – when you hit the square it always goes in!
Donny Darko!
7-0 Heat run after going down 6.
Okongwu coming up huge. A 3. Steal & slam. I liked him coming out of college. It took a while, but he is really blossoming.
who do we want to face?
Hawks
Hawks lead! Young finally holit a couple 3s. Daniels good D on Herro.
Atlanta playing hard.
Do we think Niang & Vert’s inside knowledge of our system would help the Hawks? Of course,,Hunter knows theirs, so …even.
Hawks within 3. Gorgeous with good D on 2 straight trips.
Gorgeous Georges and Very playing well. Trae crapping the bed. Can we stop letting him in All-Star games?
Niang with 18 off the bench
Still love me some LeVert.
Love the nickname for Dyson Daniel’s… the great barrier thief.
Athletic predictions: (1) Cavaliers vs. (8) Heat or Hawks Atlanta won consecutive games against Cleveland earlier this season, but that was with a healthy Jalen Johnson and before trading De’Andre Hunter to Cleveland. Based on the lineup Atlanta would take into a series with the Cavs, the Hawks appear seriously undermanned, especially in the frontcourt, where their lack of size has been glaring against big, physical squads. Possible returns by Larry Nance Jr. and/or Clint Capela would only slightly mitigate the situation. Miami can hold up better defensively against the Cavs’ torrid offensive attack, but the Heat will struggle to… Read more »
East semifinals (1) Cavaliers vs. (4) Pacers It hasn’t received much attention, but Indiana’s starting lineup has absolutely smoked the league: The Tyrese Haliburton-Andrew Nembhard-Aaron Nesmith-Pascal Siakam-Myles Turner unit has a net rating of plus-11.1, and that bumps to plus-11.9 when Bennedict Mathurin replaces Nesmith. That’s the best rating for any lineup with at least 225 minutes that doesn’t belong to Cleveland, Boston or Oklahoma City, and it threatens even the best marks from those teams. Cleveland’s starters were dominant themselves, with a plus-12.5 margin, but we expect that from a 64-win team that had a double-digit margin on the… Read more »
East finals (1) Cavaliers vs. (2) Celtics And now for the hard part. Picking a Cleveland-Boston meeting in the conference finals is easy; picking a winner once we get here is not. The Cavs and Celtics played four times this season, and each team won twice, with a net margin of one point separating them. Also, don’t overlook that Cleveland smoked Boston in Game 2 of last year’s second round behind a torrid Donovan Mitchell before his knees balked and the Cavs ran out of players. This year’s version of the Cavs has a more confident Evan Mobley, more size… Read more »
……
Seems sus
Rank the 6 established series’ for for and competitiveness. Which will ne the best? For me:
1) Clippers v Nuggets
2) Pacers v Bucks (if Dame plays)
3) Lakers v Timberwolves
4) Rockets v Warriors
5) Knicks v Pistons
6) Celtics v Magic
Yeah, I know LA v Minny has the best starpower. But Jokic & Giannis are better than anyone in those series, and Harden + Kawhi ain’t nothing.
I think the bucks murder the pacers and Celtics in 5. The other ones are fire though.
I doubt they murder them without Dame. But if he’s back, I like the Bucks.
The Hawks miss Johnson, badly.
Trae is a talented twerp.
Oh, and the Pacers/Bucks winner ain’t gonna be no picnic. Especially if Dame is back.
I am getting trolled by some teenagers I know who follow the Heat. “Buckle up!”, “Prepare to lose!” etc. I smile, fire a shot back, it’s fun. But on a fundamental level, I am just basking in how damning this is for the Hawks.
The Heat have some of the biggest trolling fans.
These games are duds tonight.
Feel like Trae is an all time great play tourney move. Think he’s going to have a big game again. Immediately followed by cracking out of the first round!
HEY ARCH — I WAS ROOTING FOR BULL s ALSO —- ON HEAT HAVING COACHING EDGE —-TRUE WITH JB ON THE BENCH—- NOT SURE HOW MUCH OF AN EDGE SPOESTRA HAS ON KA
Just to be clear I think the Cavs will beat the Heat. I just wanted an easy series, so the Cavs can save themselves for Boston. I don’t think the Heat will be easy. You will have to beat them, they won’t lay down like the Bulls.
Bulls defense was terrible. Assume the Heat can take Atlanta, but its one game, so you never know.
Cavs should do fine, they have plenty of horses.
Yeah we are gonna face the Heat in the first round. Buckle up.
Cavs in five
Gosh the Bulls stink. Which is why I want them in the first round.
Go Bulls! I don’t want to deal with the Heat.
Earning the 1 rather than 2 seed really makes a big difference this year in the East – Knicks, Pistons and Magic all avoided unless they meet Cleveland in the ECF. And none of the teams in Cleveland’s bracket are as physical as the Magic and Pistons.
I would probably prefer to play the Magic over the Heat. The Magic struggle to generate points for extended periods of time. And the Heat have the coaching edge.
That was a great game last night. the Dubs got some terrible calls against them but honestly so did the Warriors. They deserved to win it. Not sure how the dubs did not have a play to get someone an open three on a slob in their book.
Those two rim out long jumpers that Bane just missed were the difference.
Hou v GSW
Lakers v Minny
Those should both be great matchups.
Orlando went 2-1 vs Boston this year. Their D at least makes a series against them physically draining.
Knicks v Pistons should also be interesting. Ivey is back. Fresh legs,vs heavy legs?
Indy/Bucks is a rematch of last year. Giannis healthy & the Bucks have won 8 in a row without Dame.
It will be interesting to see if Dame will play. I think he’s likely out, but if he does play the Bucks have a shot.
…
…
That should do it. Houston vs Golden State
This turned into a great game.
Definitely
Warriors smoking the Grizz!
And the Grizz are back in it
Draymond already barking at the refs.
Trae Young such a baby.
Young ,,,class act,,,,,pffffftttt!!!! See ya
Trae Young ejected
Looks like the Celtics will get the Magic.
Hawks sneaking back into this one.
Niang has 14 pts on 4/8.
Caris 2/9 on FGs. 4/6/3 and 2 steals.
Rooting for the Bulls to get the 8th seed.
Me, too.
Magic back up 12.
Rooting hard for the magic. Do not want to play them in first round.
G-Wagon and Caris in
Magic has that look of we are playing hard enough to seriously hurt your star on a hard foul
Magic are the best at defending the 3 point line, which could be problematic for the Celtics. Would love to see the Magic beat up the Celtics and take them to 7 games.
Yep. And they play rugged D. Hopefully Boston will feel them and have to expend more energy.
Magic + Pistons/Knicks.
The Bucks won 8 in a row to close I think.
Coach Bud fired. Ishbia has got to be in the running for the worst owner this season.
Griff out in Nawlins
You said that below.
Griffin fired by the Pels.
One thing that rankled yesterday was listening to Pacers commentators talk about how Kenny did ‘good’ job with the Cavs but by implication they were more impressed by JB’s work with the Pistons. I’m sorry, but the Piston’s improvement is mostly them just not trying to lose and all those high draft picks finally starting to figure out the NBA game. Meanwhile, Kenny has engendered a major improvement from Evan Mobley, gotten a huge offensive improvement from the 2-big lineup, and managed a deep bench to minimize injuries. It feels like it probably has happened, but has any coach won… Read more »
The Piston also put competent NBA players around Cade, this season. They had zero shooting last year so were easy to defend against.
Yeah, with due respect to what JB accomplished, for me it’s not even a close call. It’s much easier to lift a team from bad to “pretty good” than from good to elite. And he did it initially with the same roster JB’d been working with the prior couple seasons; then, he coached the team through a seamless midseason transition after the big trade. Didn’t they win their first 14 games with Deandre?
TT had 20 rebounds yesterday. Nice!
THINK KA SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN A BACKUP POST— BUYOUT— OVER “ OKE – DOKE “. JUST MY OPINION—— CHURMA SHOWED ME ZERO!!
Cannot wait to watch Detroit stalk down New York. JB was a horrendous playoff coach here…I hope he learned something. Cuz new york is vulnerable and I want way more money to flow to Detroit than through the effing knickerbockers.
Just finished watching replay. Obviously there are no plans to play TT in the playoffs unless something goes terribly wrong.
Tough on CPJ down the stretch without a second ball handler. Do wish they could have run some plays and passed a little more in crunch time and the first OT.
Jaylen looked great and I’m exited for his future as a Cav.
The Cavs won’t find out who their opponent is until Friday. Would the first round start Saturday?
Sunday is the 8 vs. 1
WOW —-YOU DONT GET ANY MORE PURE / RAW EMOTIONS THAN JUST DISPLAYED BY RORY AT THE MASTERS—— GOOSEBUMPS JUST WATCHING—- SO HAPPY FOR HIM!!!!!
Isaiah Mobley to bad luck team:
https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2025/04/sixers-sign-isaiah-mobley.html
FTS PLAYERS GRADES CPJ / F ………. BATES / D- ——- SORRY I DONT AGREE WITH THOSE GRADES 👎
WOULD ALMOST LIKE NYQUIL OR BATES ON PLAYOFF ROSTER MORE SO THAN OKE – DOKE ——- NYQUIL SHOULD BE ON CAVS ROSTER NEXT YEAR—- MAKE TT HIS PERSONAL COACH!!
If we are healthy and don’t make the Conference Finals, I think there will be changes. Be it big ones (breaking up DG/DM or Mobley/Allen) or smaller ones (Wade, Okoro, Merrill, etc.). Okeke is a club option.
Our FA’s are Jerome (Early Bird), Merrill (Full Bird), Green, and TT (Early Bird). Plus Bates/Travers. Wade & CPJ are not fully guaranteed.
I would not jettison any of my signed guys, save maybe Okeke. That gives me 10. DG, Spida, Strus, Mobes, JA; Okoro, Hunter, Wade, Tyson, and CPJ.
I move heaven & earth to try & bring Jerome back. But it could be tough. Merrill should be easier with full Bird & less cost. I also bring Tomlin in to the full 15. That gives me 13.
PG: DG, CPJ
Combo G: Spida, Jerome
SG/SF: Strus, Okoro, Merrill, Tyson
SF/PF: Hunter, Wade
PF/PF-C: Mobley, Tomlin
C: Allen
In my best case scenario, we have 2 spots left. One if them has to be a playable C. TT would come back, but I’d want an upgrade. Can’t count on JA playing 82 again.
Then Okeke or someone else for #15. I do not think Bates/Travers are ready. But I’d be fine with another 2 way year for each.
If we lose Jerome, or get bounced early, then more significant moves will happen.
Well, we yaked it away with late TOs & missed FTs in the 4th & OT.
But it was fun.
GREAT GAME—- TYSON IS READY —— LFG !!!!!
TYSON IS DEFINITELY READY !!!!
VALIENT EFFORT GO CAVS
Fun game. Cavs ran out of gas
Emoni says ” not so fast”
Eh this game is over. Nice choke job!
They’re exhausted.
Tyson absolutely fouled. Refs wanna go home
Nice bucket Tyson.
None of these guys, for the Cavs, will play in the playoffs.
This game is absolutely stupid
bet the fans in the gym are having a blast
Run
a
Play.
Come tf on, guys
Who’s up for double ot?
That call was shit
JAYLON FUCKING TYSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!