Cavaliers escape the Pacers again: 3 takeaways from Game 2

The Cleveland Cavaliers were again caught in a game that was too close for comfort, but escaped Game 2 with another win over the Indiana Pacers.

In both Game 1 and Game 2, the Cavaliers have looked firmly in control in the second half, sitting on large leads and palpable momentum. Both times, they gave away those leads and had to sweat out finishes that were much tighter than they should have been.

In Game 2, the Cavaliers led by 18 going into the fourth quarter, only to see their lead cut to five with under three minutes remaining. The Pacers battled back with some huge offensive and defensive possessions from Paul George but were ultimately doomed by an inability to get stops and some huge brain farts down the stretch — an key offensive foul by C.J. Miles and blown coverage leading to an open layup by Kyrie Irving.

Cleveland now has a commanding 2-0 series lead. Here are three takeaways from Game 2.

Takeaways

Cleveland has mismatches to exploit, everywhere. In Game 1, the Cavaliers were repeatedly able to force the Pacers to switch 3-1 and 1-3 pick-and-rolls with LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, getting LeBron matched up with Jeff Teague. In that matchup, LeBron was able to bully his way into the post, scoring easily or passing over the top.

There was a bit of that in Game 2 as well but the mismatches also fell in other places. Irving repeatedly victimized Pacers’ bigs off the dribble after switches and, in the third quarter, Kevin Love was able to take advantage of Lance Stephenson in the post, racking up 14 points in the second half.

Indiana has some good defenders but they also have holes. Cleveland has so much offensive talent they can always line up LeBron, Love, or Kyrie with one of those holes.

A lack of shooting is hurting the Pacers. Cleveland has 10 guys on the roster who made 35 percent or more of their 3-pointers during the regular season and attempted at least 4.0 3-pointers per 100 possessions. The Pacers have five, none of whom are bigs. Cleveland is 24-of-59 on 3-pointers through the first two games, Indiana is 19-of-44. That difference doesn’t sound enormous but Pacers other than George are 9-of-26. It’s not just about the challenge of scoring efficiently with questionable shooting from their supporting cast, it’s the way that lack of shooting tightens the offensive space for Teague and George to penetrate.

This has been a problem from the beginning of the season, the Pacers can play with pace but not necessarily the space to match. They have some incredible offensive talent but the fit sets a ceiling on how good they can be and puts the onus on George to be sensational in tight games like this. The Pacers offense has actually been incredibly efficient in these two games but it has taken some absurd shot-making from George to get them there.

One of these teams looks ready for the moment. And it’s not the Pacers. The tactical errors the Pacers made down the stretch in Game 1 were enormous and fairly obvious. In this game it was as much about execution as strategy, but Cleveland looks calm and organized when the game gets close. Indiana does not.

Next: Just what the heck were Nate McMillan and the Pacers doing at the end of Game 1?

From the offensive mismatches, to the ability to get key stops and key buckets when the moment demands it, Cleveland acts like they’ve been here before. They have plenty of issues to tighten up but they’re firmly in control of the series and there’s no reason to think they’re going to let it go.