NBA Playoffs 2018: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Indiana Pacers Game 1 live stream: Watch online
The No. 4 seed Cleveland Cavaliers (50-32) host the No. 5 seed Indiana Pacers (48-34) in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals Sunday afternoon. Here’s how to watch the game online.
LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers begin their defense of their Eastern Conference crown when they take on the Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon. The game will air on ABC and can be streamed via the WatchESPN app.
James has won 21 straight first-round games dating back to 2012, which doesn’t seem to bode well for Victor Oladipo and the Pacers. Then again, the Cavaliers went through not one but two major roster overhauls in the past 12 months, so they’ve had far less time to develop cohesiveness and chemistry than their counterparts.
Cleveland also has the pressure of James’ imminent free agency looming over its head, as Kevin Love admitted to ESPN.com’s Dave McMenamin on Friday. An early postseason demise may all but seal James’ departure this summer, setting the franchise back to the dark days of the early 2010s.
Indiana, meanwhile, is playing with house money at this point. After the Pacers traded Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder this past June for Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, they appeared poised for their first trip to the lottery dais since 2014-15. Instead, Oladipo broke out as both an All-Star and the front-runner for Most Improved Player, carrying Indiana to far greater heights than anyone reasonably expected heading into the season.
Date: Sunday, April 15
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Venue: Quicken Loans Arena
TV Info: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN
According to OddsShark.com, the Cavaliers head into Sunday’s matchup as 6.5-point favorites. The Pacers won the regular-season series, 3-1, but all four of those games came before Cleveland’s drastic trade-deadline overhaul.
Given James’ recent track record in the first round and the return of “Playoff LeBron,” don’t be surprised if the Cavaliers cover the spread in Game 1.