Cavs Reportedly Were 'Wary' of Pacers 'For Weeks' Before Game 1 Loss in NBA Playoffs
The Indiana Pacers may have surprised some NBA fans with a 121-112 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of their second-round series on Sunday, but the underdog has reportedly been on the top seed's radar for some time.
"Internally, the Cavs were wary of the Pacers for weeks," ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported on his podcast Monday (48:30 mark). " … Because that's a quasi-bad matchup for the Cavs."
Indiana went 3-1 in the four head-to-head matchups this season and won both games in Cleveland.
It was clear Tyrese Haliburton and Co. were comfortable in front of the Cavaliers crowd once again Sunday when they set the tone in the early going and then finished with an impressive closing stretch on the way to stealing home-court advantage.
All five Pacers starters scored in double figures, as Haliburton operated the show like a conductor with 22 points and 13 assists as he found openings to score himself all while keeping everyone involved.
Perhaps the most important thing was how the visitors responded with their collective backs against the wall.
Indiana built a double-digit lead in the first quarter and took a lead into halftime, but Donovan Mitchell shifted his strategy and started attacking the rim in the second half. The Cavaliers came storming all the way back as a result and took the lead, which sent the crowd into a frenzy.
It would have been easy for the Pacers to fold from there and start looking ahead to an opportunity to earn a split on the road in Game 2. Instead, they remained calm and responded with a run of their own to silence the crowd and make sure Cleveland's concerns unfolded.
Indiana pulled away with a late 15-4 run that included clutch three-point shooting by Andrew Nembhard and timely perimeter defense by Haliburton. Cleveland had no final response as it struggled from the outside on the way to 9-of-38 (23.7 percent) shooting from three-point range.
By contrast, the victors went 19-of-36 (52.8 percent) from deep.
Indiana now has the chance to seize full control with another win on the road in Tuesday's Game 2, which would only further prove why the Cavaliers were so "wary" of their potential playoff opponent during the regular season.
