Cavs vs. Pacers:
First Round Primer
A Guide to the Wine and Gold's Opening Round Matchup Against Indy
by Joe Gabriele (@CavsJoeG)
4/14/17 | cavs.com
In the LeBron James Era in Cleveland – (both of them) – he has never faced the Indiana Pacers in the Playoffs.
As a Cavalier, the four-time MVP has faced the Pistons in the Playoffs four times; the Wizards, Hawks and Celtics, three times each; the Bulls and Warriors twice and the Nets, Magic and Raptors one time apiece.
But until this Saturday, he’s only faced Indiana as a member of the Heat – winning all three series, but having his work cut out in each. The Pacers took Miami to six games in the East Semis in 2012 and to seven and six games in the Conference Finals in ’13 and ’14.
On Saturday afternoon at The Q, the King and Co. begin their true title defense. And they take on a squad they collectively haven’t faced in the postseason since his return – but who they are very, very familiar with.
Before these Central Division foes get it on this weekend, here’s a 10-step primer to the Cavaliers-Pacers matchup to pass the calm before the storm …
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 2: LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers handles the ball during the game against Lance Stephenson #6 of the Indiana Pacers on April 2, 2017 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images
1 LeBron James dismissed any similarities between the Heat teams’ meetings with Indiana and this year’s First Round matchup – asserting that that team was more “ground-and-pound” with Roy Hibbert and David West. This Pacers team definitely has a different makeup, but the biggest common denominator – LeBron vs. Paul George – remains.
After Thursday’s practice at Cleveland Clinic Courts – the first in a while – James was effusive in his praise of his peer and the hurdles he’s crossed to get back here.
”If your mind’s not strong, then no matter if you have Dr. Andrews working on you, you’re not going to recover,” said James, referring to the gruesome leg injury George suffered at a USA Basketball practice session. “It’s great to see – as a competitor, as a friend, as someone that I’ve had a lot of great Playoff series against and have had some conversations with back to where he needs to be."
The best evidence of that was their epic battle in Cleveland’s 135-130 double-overtime win less than two weeks ago at The Q.
In that one, George finished with 43 points on 16-for-33 shooting, including 6-of-16 from deep to go with nine boards, nine assists, three steals and a block. James notched his 11th triple-double of the season, scoring 21 of his 41 points in the fourth quarter, going 16-for-29 overall with a game-high 16 boards, 11 assists, two steals and a block.
The numbers in that paragraph don’t need support, but in sum, George is averaging 24.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists in eight games against Cleveland since LeBron’s return (missing all four meetings in 2014-15) with a 2-6 mark. Over that same span, LeBron is 6-0 against Indiana, averaging 30.5 points, 8.0 boards and 6.3 assists.
2 This will be Tyronn Lue’s second season as Cavs head coach in the postseason, putting together a 16-5 run – including a three-game win streak that made history – in his first foray.
It’s been a trying year for Lue in his first full regular season with the Wine and Gold – dealing with a rash of injuries that left a patchwork rotation for much of the year. But Lue was excellent in last year’s postseason and he’ll be calling the defensive shots the rest of the way. Lue and his staff also designed some fantastic late-game, shot-clock beating individual plays during last year’s title-winning run.
“We weathered the storm this year – missing all the guys, all the injuries, all the new parts – and we still finished second (in the East),” said Lue after Thursday’s practice. “It’s not like we backed into the Playoffs. Being the No. 2 seed after all we’ve been through this year, I’ll take that. And now that we’re in the Playoffs, we’ll do what we do.”
Nate McMillan is taking the Pacers into the Playoffs in his first year with Indy, but it’s his sixth trip to the postseason as a head coach – making two trips with the SuperSonics and three with the Blazers – his best run coming in 2005 with Seattle, falling in six to the Spurs after knocking off the Kings in the First Round.
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 2: Kevin Love #0 of the Cleveland Cavaliers handles the ball during the game against the Indiana Pacers on April 2, 2017 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images
3 By now you’ve seen the schedule, but if you prefer it in the written word …
Game 1 is Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. on ABC, Game 2 is Monday at 7 p.m. on FSO/TNT – both in Cleveland. The series shifts back to Indiana for a Thursday night Game 3 at 7 p.m. on FSO/TNT followed by a Sunday afternoon affair for Game 4 at 1 p.m. on ABC at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
If the remaining games are necessary, it’s next Tuesday (4/25) back in Cleveland, next Thursday (4/27) in Indy and the following Saturday at The Q – all times TBD.
4 Here’s what happened in four head-to-head meetings this year …
November 16: Without LeBron James and J.R. Smith, the Cavs fall, 103-93, in Indiana; Kevin Love finished with 27 points and 16 boards and Kyrie added 20 points and seven helpers, but C.J. Miles (of course) keyed a late run that iced the win.
February 8: One game after a thrilling overtime win in Washington – snapping the Wiz’ seven-game win streak – the Cavs do the same to the red-hot Pacers, with Kyle Korver tying a career-best with eight triples as the Cavs won in an arena where they’d dropped 12 of the previous 13.
February 15: With Kevin Love on the shelf with a knee injury, LeBron and Kyrie do the heavy lifting – with Kyle Korver pitching in again off the bench as the Cavs won their seventh game out of eight February contests, dropping the Pacers – 113-104 – at The Q in the final game before the All-Star Break.
April 2: LeBron and Paul George waged their classic duel on the floor and LeBron and Tristan Thompson got in a little one off of it, with the mild-mannered Thompson barking at James in a huddle during the OT period. In the second overtime, Kevin Love notched nine of his 20 points, going 4-of-4 from the floor in the dramatic win.
5 The Cavaliers and Pacers have only met once before in the postseason – back in 1998.
Led by Mike Fratello, the Cavs returned to the postseason after a one-year hiatus and featured Shawn Kemp, Wesley Person and a group of rookies including Derek Anderson, Cedric Henderson, Brevin Knight and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who flummoxed Indiana’s “Dunkin’ Dutchman” – Rik Smits – over the four-game First Round matchup, averaging 17.3 points and 7.5 boards in the series.
Fratello’s stingy Cavaliers stole Game 3 – 86-77 – back at then Gund Arena, but that Pacers squad was loaded – with the likes of Reggie Miller, Chris Mullin, Dale Davis, Mark Jackson, Jalen Rose and Smits. And they stiff-armed the offensively-challenged Cavaliers in Game 4 – 80-74 – en route to the Eastern Conference Finals, where they fell to the Bulls in seven.
6 There aren’t a ton of storylines heading into a series featuring a pair of Central Division foes that know each other well but certainly share no bad blood. So if there are going to be any storylines, they’ll have to emerge as the series progresses.
Pundits might try to dust off the LeBron-Tristan spat from two Sundays ago and prepare to see multiple memes featuring Lance Stevenson blowing on things. But unless Rakeem Christmas is seeking revenge for being dealt, there isn’t much built-in drama heading into this First Round series.
“The Wine and Gold have an all-time postseason record of 100-89 (.529) – including a 63-31 (.670) mark at home, a 37-58 (.389) mark on the road and a 7-4 record in overtime games.”
Cavaliers All-Time Postseason Records
7 OK, maybe it’s not “revenge.” (Anybody who got to know C.J. Miles in his two-year stint with the Cavs knows that he’s not the vengeful type.) But he sure loves sticking it to his old club since moving over to Indiana.
Supplanting Denver’s Will Barton for the current top spot, Miles has been a Cav-Killer extraordinaire – netting at least 20 points in four of his ten games against Cleveland, including three of the last five. Over that five-game span, Miles is averaging 17.8 points per – shooting .651 from the floor, .606 from long-range and .929 from the line.
That would really sting if the Cavaliers didn’t have Kyle Korver, who’s made life just as miserable for Indy. In two games against the Pacers with Cleveland this year, Korver is averaging 25.5 points – shooting .750 (18-of-24) from the floor and .824 (14-of-17) from long-range.
8 Here’s a few Cavaliers Playoff facts loaded into four sentences …
The Wine and Gold have an all-time postseason record of 100-89 (.529) – including a 63-31 (.670) mark at home, a 37-58 (.389) mark on the road and a 7-4 record in overtime games. They’ve played the Celtics and Bulls each 34 times in the postseason with a record of 16-18 vs. Boston and a 14-20 mark against the Bulls. They’ve beaten the Hawks all 12 times they’ve faced them and have taken the last 12 against Detroit. They have zero wins against San Antonio and just one more (against eight losses) against the Knicks.
9 For the second straight season, the Cavaliers inked Dahntay Jones just before the last game of the season. It might seem like a minor move, but Jones came up big in small doses –including a key stint in Game 6 of the Finals – during last year’s run.
Cleveland also signed Edy Tavares, who had one of the wildest Cavalier debuts in recent memory – swatting six shots in the second half of Wednesday’s loss to Toronto. The six blocks were the most since Big Z rejected seven against Utah in mid-November of 2007 and was one shy of tying Larry Nance for the most (7) in a single half.
Tavares performance in the locker room was almost as inspiring. On getting the opportunity to play with LeBron and Kyrie, Tavares beamed, “It was a shock for me because they are my favorite players. They inspire me. LeBron and Kyrie Irving, I have to work hard and do everything I can to be like them. To play with him (LeBron), I see him and it’s like a movie for me. It’s not real! I can’t explain what I feel now.”
10 In the last piece of minutia, most of the traveling staff is looking forward to a series in Indy.
The arena is very cool – the fans are loyal and friendly, there’s a ton of Pacers (and racing) history on display in a big, naturally-lit atrium. In the arena, the team has a practice court that’s adorned like an old gym – exposed brick walls, wooden bleachers, an old-school clock with a seconds-hand. Bankers Life Fieldhouse also has Banana Split Dippin’ Dots – which is nice.
Downtown Indianapolis can prepare for many Cavalier visits to the world-famous St. Elmo’s Steak House, where the shrimp in the shrimp cocktail is as big as your head and the sauce will make it explode. And I can personally assure plenty of runs to the open-til-2 a.m. Steak’n’Shake two blocks from the hotel.