Playoff Live Thread: Cavs vs. Pacers, Game 1 (#WhoAreYou?)
2017-04-15https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdLIerfXuZ4
After 82 games and five roller coaster months, we’re not much closer to knowing just who the Cleveland Cavaliers are. Injuries, inconsistency, roster moves and general malaise have all complicated the identity of the defending NBA Champions.
Are they the team that went 25-7 before the end of 2016… or the team that went 26-24 in 2017?
Are they the team that rallied from 14 down to beat Golden State on Christmas Day, despite losing J.R. Smith to a broken thumb… or the team that got blown out those same Warriors by 35 a month later in the MLK Massacre Redux?
Are they the team that blitzed their opponents, averaging almost 120 points a game while going 8-2 in February… or the team that was almost dead last in allowing points through a rusted sieve of a defense while suffering through a brutal 10-14 stretch after the beginning of March?
Are they the team who easily man-handled the Celtics in Boston 10 days ago to take control of the top seed in the East… or the team that got embarrassed at home by the Hawks’ bench before suffering a historic 26 point collapse to their starters two nights later?
Are they the team that wanted that top seed so bad they rode LeBron James to the most average minutes per game of anyone in the NBA this season… or the team that didn’t really care about seeding as long as they got to the playoffs healthy?
Just who are you, Cavs? I really wanna know…
Well, we’re about to find out. The Cavs kick off the season that purportedly actually means something to them starting today against the Indiana Pacers. You don’t have to remember too far back to recall how potent the Pacers can be… as they took the Cavs to double overtime in a 135-130 thriller just two weeks ago. In that game, Paul George and LeBron James put on a classic duel, both scoring 40+ with LBJ notching a triple double and PG-13 coming up just short. And, like today, that game was at the Q. The Pacers are a much better team at home this year (29-12) than they were on the road (13-28), so the Cavs should look to jump out to an early series lead before things get tougher in Indy where they’ve struggled in recent history.
For the Cavs, the numbers speak for themselves. They are 13-1 at home in the playoffs against the Eastern Conference since 2015. They swept both first round opponents (Boston and Detroit) the last two seasons since LeBron returned. The Pacers present a bit more of a challenge since they do boast a superstar on their roster in PG-13. Yet, the Cavs have the ultimate playoff trump card in the man who has been to six straight NBA Finals. Today’s game will be LeBron’s 200th playoff tilt of his career. As far as playoff milestones go, he needs just 69 points to pass Kobe Bryant for 3rd in playoff scoring, eight rebounds to pass Robert Parish for 8th in boards, five steals to pass Magic Johnson for 3rd and 11 made field goals to pass Tim Duncan for 5th.
Will you know who carry the Cavs to another championship? We’ll be closer to that answer in a few hours…
Cavs probable starting lineup: Kevin Love, LeBron James, J.R. Smith, Tristan Thompson, Kyrie Irving.
Pacers probable starting lineup: Paul George, Jeff Teague, Myles Turner, Thaddeus Young, Monta Ellis.
Prediction: The Cavs show the Pacers who’s boss and show us all who they want to be with a convincing 117-104 victory.
Catch all of the playoff action starting at 3pm EST on ABC.
RIP to Isiah Thomas’s sister. Crazy.
Bucks are scary. Jazz out west could also be scary.
For the nine minutes Lebron sat, the Cavs had a 151.8 defensive rating. Impressive.
Got to like the physicality from the Bucks. They put the clamps on the Raptors in the 4th quarter.
If the Cavs could defend like that…..
My unofficial tally from the shot chart has Toronto shooting 7 for 34 in the second half, or 21%.
I saw the entire second half and the Bucks did a masterful job defensively.
Of course they don’t have too much scoring power like the Cavs do but JKidd have them playing their behinds off on defense.
If the Cavs could find a way to at least allow 100 ppg consistently on defense and of course hit their FT’s they would have a great chance of winning it all.
I watched a lot of the second half, and as Tom said, it made me envious seeing how hard Delly played defense. And of course he contributed offensively too.
The Giannis/Monroe combo could be deadly.
if Giannis even becomes respectable from beyond the arc – holy crap. It’s like scottie pippen on D but way better offense.
Yeah, if he gets a three point shot, he’s going to be the best player in the world soon. And I know he works hard, so good chance it’ll happen. Imagine if the Cavs had drafted him!
Can’t pass on a talent like Anthony Bennent.
Greek Freak out of his mind…
holy crap Giannis
Watching Delly’s defense right now is making me weep.
That whole team…even Monroe has been nails the 2nd half…putting it to the Raps in Toronto.
As stated by many, if only we could have kept Delly instead of Shumpert.
The return of the InstaCap!
Hey, it’s time to Flip the Switch, right!?
YESSSSS!!!!
Bucks looking good, up 10 in the 4th…Delly been out there since mid 3rd…
Jose Ramirez having a day, including two three-run homers.
Delly with a nice three, Bucks up 3…
Raptors may beat the Bucks in this series, but it’s not going to be any fun for them…I would say the same if the Cavs were playing the Bucks…that team is already dangerous…
think Cavs next defensive strategy is to trap George and force other Pacers to beat them….I don’t think that can happen…if George is on it lets other Pacers relax and make plays but if we frustrate him and trap….team has a chance and yes I know the defense may not be up to task, but its their best answer to put this series away quick
OK, you can let Cols out of the basement now.
I miss watching Delly. Miss him big time. Griff needs to trade Shump for him.
He’s on right now… but never gonna happen. Only way he comes back to Cavs is if Bucks dump him
they have identical salaries. Yea, watching this game- two teams fightin hard.
Just can’t see Bucks wanting Shump…
Griff kept the more athletic player who’s not all there mentally, instead of the “un-athletic” player who’s always locked in mentally.
I suppose two years ago we swept the Celtics in round one and barely beat them most of the games…tough wins still earn us rest if we win in 4
This wasn’t a “tough win”. A tough win is a hard earned win. There was nothing hard earned about this. Cavs put the absolute minimum amount of effort into this.
I actually don’t think it was minimum effort… and therein lies the problem… they may not have put in maximum focus, but the effort was there…
mental effort? i don’t know, what ever you want to call it, it wasn’t there.
Certainly mental… I mean if they shoot 70% instead of 50% from the stripe, it’s nowhere near this close…
Pacers shot 50% from the field, 45% from three, had 12 offensive boards. It’s not just about Cavs missing free throws. Cavs can’t muster the intensity.
Paul George was 6-8 from three… the rest of the Pacers were 5-16 from three… the boards were an issue, and Love was getting beat by Thad Young… They were intense, just look at the number of plays they went to the floor for loose balls… They made a lot of mental errors down the stretch though…
I wouldn’t agree with that. Not max effort, maybe, but I thought most of them were trying hard.
I agree with you believeLAND… I just thought they completely coasted; it got close, LBJ and Kyrie make clutch shots… game over. It wasn’t THE minimum, it was the minimum to beat the Pacers.
Would like to see Pestak’d instacaps in the playoffs. Only thing that will make it all tolerable
Wooooord
A win’s a win. Need to make free throws!!!! Well, on to G2.
Bucks taking it to the Raps. That series could be very, very competitive.
Poor FT shooting, poor offensive game from Kyrie and going up against possibly the second best player in the East. Not pretty but I’ll take it and we move on. Glad to see no Shump, just need to get LeBron more in game rest.
You make your free throws, you win by 10+. Not the worst way to win the first game although annoying because it shouldn’t have been this way.
Coach Lue just said in the post interview that it “Hurt him not to have Schump in there” but JR stepped up.
Ahhh WTF dude? Schump shouldn’t even be a consideration with the way he has been playing.
He’s being kind. He didn’t put Shump in for the same reason most of us wouldn’t have.
based on comments here and Twitter, seems like defense and missed free throws made this game closer than usual….if team makes at least 80% of free throws they can win games by 10+ points….have enough offensive fire power
Cavs are so much more talented and better than these teams. What’s it gonna take for them to lift their intensity and focus
only caught last minute of this….saw team hit 13/26 from ft line…no wonder game was close
Kyrie was actually better on defense than offense in the second half…
For those playing at home, the under wins with kevin love taking 2 shots in the 4th. On 2 touches. None in the post.
Mr 1st Quarter goes missing again
Got to fix the free throw shooting if they want to have a real chance of repeating.
Lbj with 43 min and blown layups towards the end – coincidence?
Lock yourselves in the gym and shoot free throws for 8 hours straight…
Yea, this is gonna be rough. Cavs may get whooped in ECF.
Either the Raptors or Bullets likely to be a dogfight…
Bullets might lose to the Hawks…
I’d be shocked…
I wouldn’t… Wash has been bad lately and Hawks have a lot of defenders to throw at Wall and Beal…
Bullets may have just been in ‘chill mode’ down the stretch….
Raps are gonna whip us if we play like this
If they’re going to get whooped, it won’t be in the ECF… it’ll be round 2 vs. Raps…
Lose to Raps in semis. As unimpressive as a home PO win gets. Poor FT shooting. Give up an 11-0 run late to a lower seed at home. Went away from movement late. SSDD.
That was terrifying. What a game for LeBron
15 to go
Yikes……………… dude
Shwooh! Feel like we got lucky there…I liked the double on PG13 but it never should have come down to that…
Exactly, but again the Cavs free throw shooting.
It was a good decision from the Cavs to take the ball out of PG’s hand.
It’s incredibly hard for a team to shoot better from the field than the free throw line…
Cavs are like: “hold my beer”
Whew… should never have been that close…
Yeeeeesh.
Well, Cavs win….a little lucky, but a win…
Man, that was not pretty
Omg. Cj miles almost effed us
He’s a really good first half shooter…
Need a freaking stop…
I kind of fear what would happen.
Pg13 for the upset
what was that, take it to the hole Lebron
Like I have said before I would trade KLove, Shump and JR for PG13.
1000000000%
Yeah, Larry laughs and hangs up on that call…
Nah, we got a great team. We need better coaching. I would trade Shump for CJ though.
Unbelievable…with a one point lead we need to run offense before 6 secs left and get a better look than a lbj step back three…