Eastern Conference Semifinals Live Thread: Game 2, Pacers @ Cavs
2025-05-06Good evening CtB!
The Cavs again welcome the Indiana Pacers to the banks of the Cuyahoga River for Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, down 1-0 in the series. What happened Sunday evening? Sadly, the Cavs simply didn’t show up. They played soft, weak, whiny, and entitled and as such got their asses handed to them by a team that’s not even known as a physical team. In fact, the Pacers were ranked 28th in the NBA in rebounding rate this season yet they ended up drawing on the board battle 43-43. That speaks to just how pathetic the Cavs’ physicality in the game was.
And now, that lack of hit-first mentality resulted in injuries to several Cavs, most notably DeAndre Hunter and Evan Mobley. My guess is that they play, but how compromised are they? Indiana is playing loose and free without the burden of expectations. For the Cavs, this is the first adversity of the postseason… how will they respond? Every test this year they’ve risen to the occasion.
Tip off is scheduled for 7:00PM Eastern time and will broadcasted live on Fanduel Sports Network, Go Cavs!
It sounds like Mobley and Hunter are doubtful tomorrow.
Actually this is an older report I was looking at. Disregard.
https://www.cleveland.com/cavs/2025/05/cavs-on-wrong-end-of-multiple-costly-missed-calls-at-end-of-game-2-collapse.html?outputType=amp
Shocking in a Tony Brothers game
WILL HELP IF PLAYER s ARE HEALTHY —- BUT STILL NOT PROBABLY 100%—— DG HASNT PLAYED IN LIKE 2 WEEKS/ RUSTY —- PLAYING AWAY AGAINST A VERY CONFIDENT/ HUNGRY TEAM/HOSTILE CROWD—— THE ODD s ARE AGAINST THEM —- WE WILL SEE IF THEY CAN RISE TO THE CHALLENGE—- OTHERWISE THE “ FAT LADY “ WILL BE GETTING DRESSED/ READY TO SING
if everyone plays, the Cavs are favored, because they are a better team
The discussion really does understate what we lose. 60 PPG and the defensive player of the year is so much.
NBA acknowledges BOTH Pacer foul shot rebounds should have been disallowed:
https://www.fearthesword.com/2025/5/7/24425774/cavs-blown-calls-nba-playoffs-indiana-pacers-cleveland-cavaliers-tyrese-haliburton-donovan-mitchell
“How” the F do you miss that call? It’s not hard to spot.
Knicks/Boston is eerily similar to Pacers/Cavs.
If we can get healthier, I still believe.
doin a tug mcgraw.. can’t hurt..
absolutely. gotta win game 3. then gotta win game 4
At least the Cavs get an extra day to get healthy. Hopefully DG, Mobes, and Hunter are ready to go Friday.
misery loves company.. so sweet that celtics seem to be shitting the bed.. and at home..
ARE WE LOOKING AT PACERS / KNICKS FINAL s AM SURE STEPHEN A IS ECSTATIC 🤩
Boston joins us with their own 0-2 hole.
According to TNT, teams that win the first 2 games on the road win the series 85.7% of the time (30-5).
Cavs will win .. starting with Game 3.. and it will be 30-6.
can certainly happen
Horford really laying an egg , keeps the door open for the Knicks.
HEY AT LEAST THE GAURDIANS WON 👍👍
NORMALLY AN IB s PLAY WILL HAVE 3–4 OPTIONS IF THE OTHER OPTION s ARE DEFENDED AND DONT “ TELEGRAPH “ YOUR PASS —- BALL FAKE —- LOOK THE DEFENDER AWAY FROM THE PLAYER / TARGET 👍🏀
PRREACH BUCKAROO PREACH —— WHERE IS TY LUE WHEN YOU NEED HIM —- HE WAS A MASTER at BLOBS / SLOBS ———- THESE ARE NBA / EXPERIENCED PLAYERS—- SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO AD LIB FROM A DESIGN PLAY —- NEED TO FIGURE IT OUT ——- AS A COACH I HATE A TO ON A SLOB / BLOB ————— ANY LATEST ON OUR “ LIMPING “ WOUNDED
The man is lying. Jaylon Tyson got a start in November – real bullets for a rookie. Ty Jerome and Sam Merrill got spot starts. Wade started 30 games. We used depth to get bench guys real reps ALL THE TIME. We went deep bench for 16 games at the end of the season to get guys reps, including 2 against the Pacers! Went 8-8…that sounds like sacrificing regular season games. And CPJ was horrid in the fourth of that game. I like CPJ and wanted more but being hesitant based on CPJs last significant action three weeks ago is… Read more »
from cleveland.com.. “My sole regret is maybe we should have played more guys,” admitted Atkinson.. precisely.. why wait for 1-14 and 0-4 and the inevitable funeral ? other than being frozen like a deer in a headlight.. how about sacrificing a few likely irrelevant regular season games in order to give your soldiers some basic training with real bullets.. i think i made this point last evening.. 1-14 and 0-4 is a statistical oddity.. it demonstrates that the subject is being constrained by physiological dynamics (re stress, fear etc).. under these conditions, hope is not a method that is likely… Read more »
Okay, I feel entitled to a little second guessing of KA after this admission, because some here have been advocating Jaylen in the rotation for months. Last night, with Mobley and Hunter both out from the start and with Pacers wings literally jumping over Cavs’ guards for O-boards, it just boggles my mind that a 6-9 forward who’s shown to be solid rebounder could not get any minutes. Likewise, we’d seen enough of Ty after six quarters of this series to know CPJ might be needed to help handle the ball down the stretch; yet he did not play at… Read more »
Well, as a fan of the only NBA franchise to ever pull off a 1-3 Finals comeback, can’t give up down 0-2 in any series. And the Cavs were a great road team this year outside of the one OKC game and (literally only) a couple others.
BLOBS / SLOBS SHOULD BE PRACTICED EVERY DAY —- EVERY PLAYER HAS AN ASSIGNMENT—- DEPLORE LAZY / SLOW / HIGH INBOUND PASSES/ “ Turnover City “ —— EACH OFFENSIVE PLAYER SHOULD INITIATE CONTACT— GET SEPARATION— CUT HARD TO THE BALL / SCREENING THE DEFENDER—- OTHER PLAYERS SHOULD SET HARD SCREEN s TO FREE UP PLAYERS—- INBOUNDER SHOULD GIVE A HARD BALL FAKE TO GET DEFENDER MOMENTARILY OFF BALANCE——-A COACH CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH—- PLAYERS HAVE RESPONSIBILITIES………….”
MORE BEER 🍺 PLEASE “
It’s fatigue and the other guys get paid too and know what you want to do.
Cavs have struggled to inbound in both games. That ain’t fatigue.
Everyone has the same plays there are no surprises.
All cascaded from injuries yesterday. Our best passer is out, our tallest player is out, the Indy guard defense is fresher because they didn’t have to deal with guarding Mitchell for 20 and Garland for 20, instead they got to rest on Merrill or Okoro or even Wade instead of Hunter.
Game 1, that sucked. Gotta be better but you have to go through it to get to better
Also: player inbounding the ball should be the tallest player available.
unfortunately two of the tallest players were on the IL
Allen was on the floor.
Guarding 1 seems easier than guarding 3
that is by no means always the case.
back in the day, the Cavs inbounded to Zydrunas almost every time, and it worked great.
often teams have the best shooter inbound, so they can run “pass right back to the inbounder” plays.
the 2025 Cavs probably have multiple practiced inbound plays, but they all have DG or EM in them
1 THING ——- WHY DID WE PICK UP “ OKE — DOKE “ AND NOT ANOTHER BIG —— HELL WE SHOULD HAVE UPPED / SIGNED NYQUIL —- HE COULD HAVE HELPED IN SPOT s — DEFENSE/ REBOUNDING IN LIMITER SPOTS
GREAT GRIT —- NOT GOING TO DUMP WHEN EVERYONE IS DOWN —— HOW MANY TEAMS— MINUS/ ALL STARS / ANOTHER STARTER AGAINST A HIGH QUALITY TEAM PUTS UP A FIGHT LIKE THAT——— OFF SEASON MOVES ( NO TT / ICE / WADE ) — THAT IS A POST FOR ANOTHER TIME—— EVEN IF WE GET EVERYONE BACK / THEY WONT BE 100% ——— SHIT HAPPENS !!!!!!
I thought Ice and Wade were really good. If Wade could be that rebounder / effective backup 5 all the time he’s better than a huge space eater and he played a huge part in spacing for DM. Good on Kenny for practicing Wade at 5 in the regular season. Ice was instrumental too at point of attack. He just got tired and hacky but he was all heart. Paying for quality depth really paid off. Offseason moves are gonna be good. Koby to me was Executive of the Year, but we’ll lean on internal development. I’m not sure huge… Read more »
many superstars, MJ in particular, went to great lengths to come up with some slight to inspire them to play better. I don’t know how well that works in general, but it was sure a bad time for the “most overrated” thing to come out.
Maybe. Could have worked the other way, Hali might have felt more pressure to perform and choked. Gotta tip your hat, he’s been balling.
in this case, he just had two great games.
I’ve been for a long run, feeling a little better. I may have punched a few street signs on the way.
I was really impressed by Allen and Kenny’s pressers. Big hearts
You don’t deserve to win a game if you can’t inbound the ball . That was shocking.
news alert to Raffy: the other team is defending the inbounds.
Yeah Boston just lost on not being able to do this and they had probably the strongest perimeter player in the league on the catch
This is why I don’t get too happy when there is a lead.. needs to get to 0.000.. as we’ve seen in these playoffs. But being up 20 in the 1st half, and 20 pts with 7 min left in the 3rd, up 14 at the end the 3rd and 7 points at the 1 minute mark.. Mitchell with 48 and 9, Strus with 23, JA with 22 and Sam with 14 .. and LOOSE at home is a heartbreaker. We shot the below from 3 so far: Game 2: 11/39 (28.2%) Game 1: 9/38 (23.7%) For the season we… Read more »
Cavs besides Max (5-12) and Sam (4-9) were 2-18. Donovan (1-7), Wade 1-4, Ty (0-4)
Jarret Allen need to get more than 9 attempts when he is 7-9 FG and 8-8 FT for 22 pts. In game 1 he was 6-7 FG for 12 points.
He had an easy post attempt he passed out of late. He needs to demand the ball.
KA could share some blame here for not directing more emphasis on Allen touches with so many scorers missing, especially after witnessing Ty’s first half.
KA gets a lot of blame
Need to hear the postgame press conference from Kenny and Don.
Kenny basically putting it on fatigue. Which was of course the case
I don’t see it. It’s 50/50 balls and FTs.
agree
Wow that was the worst L ive seen jn a loooong time. This series is over. Book it. Need some trades felm this paper tiger regular season champion
get real Dan
I wish man this is just the same tape we have seen three playoffs in a row. When are we going to call a Spade a Spade? I’ll be more than happy to eat crow but this team is who we thought they were until proven otherwise (in the playoffs)
I hear you man, but when I heard the injury report before the game, I had Cavs 0-2.
They fought as effing hard as they could. The Pacers are an experienced, stable squad with PO experience and I was not surprised at the result. For mine, the pain comes from the manner of the last-second defeat.
Thats what im saying!!! I wouldnt be so down about it if we lost by 20, but the fact that we were up 7 with 50 seconds to go and lost, thats the brutality of it
Simply comes down to rebounding and inbounding, which is toughness and athleticism and maybe a little creativity, can we not get TT an Tyson into it just a little bit to offer some of that? I felt we were watching a Bickerstaff masterclass tonight.
bickerstaff pistons went to 7 vs the knicks.. this is going 0-4.. coach of the year my ass.. the team had big issues that were “hidden” by the easy regular season wins.. the regular season wins are a lame measure of a team’s true abilities..
It was six. You are always, always wrong
not going 0-4 ? i hope they can find a miracle, but doubt it..
we lost by a total of ten points and outplayed them for 3/4 quarters every game.
just smooth smooth brain stuff. all nose for shit and squealing, you more pig than man when it comes to ball takes. continue to root in shit
why don’t you take a few months off and get some rest?
The Cavs need to be a play-in team next year so they wont have any sort of expectations.
perhaps they need the coach of the year to play all of the players in order to give them the experience necessary to be useful in the playoffs.. so much for “home field advantage”.. the rook is pretty good.. perhaps he could have shifted the tide of the game.. lastly, why carry old sentimental torn-up baggage that can’t hold a pair of socks (TT).. bring in an enforcer off the street.. cheaper.. and useful..
Brutal. And still fucked by Tony Brothers.
.
Why couldn’t the Cavs challenge that Nemhard left the three point line early, which he clearly did?
Not a play that can be challenged. Also at one point the Cavs were out of timeouts
Out of timeouts because they kept having to use them to avoid late inbounds violations. So frustrating!
That guy needs to retire.
Ty’s 1 for 14 was a killer, if he’s sinking some of those attempts it never even gets close enough for Indiana to have a chance to steal it. And it’s not like he was a streaky shooter or scorer this season up until now.
At least Ty’s value tanked with this game. Now we can afford him.
This series. He wasn’t good in Game One either.
He was 8-20 FG, 1-4 3PT, but atleast had 21 pts and 8 AST.
You’re right–it just seemed he ate a lot of his shots.
how does jerome go 1-14 and 0-4 ? temporary blindness or a playoff choke job ?
Bitterly disappointing. Donovan gave his all. Given a normal night by Ty Jerome they win that easily. Really tough to have 3 of your end-of-game guys out of the line-up though.
That sucked, for sure, really bummed. But again just looking at the stats we shot 28% from 3, missing 3 of our top 7, and really should have had the W again. It doesn’t count for anything if you don’t get the W, but it gives me some hope we can theorhetically right the ship. I don’t really feel like we’re outmatched by the Pacers, so being down 2-0 isn’t insurmountable in my mind
We’re not: this one was horrible but I was preparing for 0-2 as soon as everyone was out.
-10 over two game minus two Allstars feels bad but it’s not horrific. Really really tough fight: it would be crazy to look at this effort and call the team soft but that’s inevitable among casuals. We just ran out of gas
It’s not impossible but I think the only paths to victory hinge on another primary playmaker healing up (Garland) or showing up (Ty).
why on earth keep TT if he is unplayable.. a beast with razor elbows was needed the entire season.. team is not built for trench warfare against a tough physical opponent.. it is built for regular season badminton.. sad.. a historic season.. wasted
I spent all of 2025 asking for another big for exactly situations like that.
Yep.Exactly.
Gotta take your lumps on the way to another ring. That was a really rough way to lose it.
Spectacular effort just not quite enough.
Cavs need to get some players that can deal with the physicality of the playoffs. And probably need a #1 option. Mitchell is a #2 option IMO. Maybe make a run at Giannis?
The “injured 2/3 f the last postseasons” Giannis?
Okay fine trade for Joker then.
I mean this is the kind of health bullshit that trips up all contenders. Bucks, Lakers, Nuggets, Nets, Sixers, etc.
It’s disappointing as hell but we have to go through this to get to the next level.
I mean Donovan had a LeBron vs. 2009 Orlando type game tonight. And he’s actually built for this. It’s the rest of the core rotation that is too finessy at times.
To be clearer, I think Strus also responds well to the physicality. So does Allen but he needed to do more offensively with 3 scorers sidelined.
You can bitch at Dzg for being finesse but he’s the reason we have good clutch offense. Without him setting up it’s a rock fight
I’m not making any complaint here about Garland. I’m just praying he can come back. Big toe injuries can be very difficult, I’m not surprised his missing games.
The 7th or 8th most prolific playoff scorer in NBA history is a number 2 option, Arch? Would you rather we trade for Michael Jordan in his Prime? Get outta here man
Okay I went a little overboard with that comment.
Haha emotions ran HIGH after this loss. Everyone gets a pass for whatever hot take. Let’s get em in game 3
Fuck. That sucked.
If Garland can’t play going forward, I don’t see them making it out of this round. And if on top of that the real Ty Jerome finally doesn’t show up in Indianapolis . . .
See you next October!
which toe sunk the cavs ? the baby one ?
Big toe
Whelp
Don’t care who was missing from the lineup, that is ridiculous.
G’night all.
So the Cavs pissed away a 14 point end of third quarter lead by being unable to inbound the ball or defensive rebound. This is HIGH on the list of all time blown games.
Repeatedly couldn’t inbound the ball
actually, the other team was trying to win, and got some astoundingly lucky breaks.
Crazy shit there.
That’s the Cav’s season. Nothing left. Change my mind.
Unbelieveable choke.
Goodnight. How the fuck no rebound
That was not a foul. Stayed in position and went straight up.
Why don’t we screen on the inbounds?
This game is ridiculous. Just giving them too many easy baskets. Missing Mobley bad.
Well, we need points here. If this goes to OT, we are done.
Nobody mention that 5minute thing that could happen soon
Chin music!!!!!
Get Mitchell out on D.
Anthony thinks the shoves were fine but that is flagrant.
No flagrant thank goodness
Would have been a disaster
Fuck me that’s going to be a flagrant
If they blow this…
Except I ta a fucking lane violation by nesmithm
Watching these Pacers, this is why I wish KA would use Jaylen in this rotation, get some length and young legs in there, plus his rebounding.
Get the damn rebound.
That dunk should count.
Nesmith again. Goon play.
No box out. Jeez
I legit root for opposing teams to make their second free throw against the Cavs, I just do not trust them to get the rebound.
Ok it was DM
My heart almost stopped!
How the fuck does that happen
Ty for Wade o for D sub. Normally an easy call . . .
What is Okoro doing there?
I think that was Spida getting burnt by Nesmith.
Pacers scoring in like 5 seconds.
Ty looked like he has a bit of bright lights syndrome.
Mad Max!
Huge shot from Strus!
Mitchell out of gas