Pacers steal mojo and Game 1 from the Cavaliers: 3 takeaways

This is not the same Cavaliers team we’ve seen the past few seasons. The Pacers reminded us of that by taking Game 1 on the road.

Things have been as hard for the Cavaliers this season as they’ve ever been during LeBron James’ tenure with the team. The road to a potential fourth-straight Finals appearance looks daunting with the Celtics, Raptors and 76ers all standing in the way. Before the Cavaliers would even have a chance to matchup with any of those teams, they’ll have to get past the frisky Indiana Pacers.

Indiana jumped out to a huge lead to begin the game, and eventually pushed their lead as high as 23 points. However, Cleveland made things interested and finished the third quarter on a 15-4 run. Just when it looked like LeBron and the Pacers were ready to play out an old familiar script, Indiana stepped on the gas and turned things into a blowout.

LeBron James had a triple-double with 24 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, but he was just 7-of-17 from the field and scored just four points in a crucial fourth quarter as the Pacers pulled away. Maybe this energizes the Cavaliers going forward. Maybe it shows them some obvious adjustments to make moving forward. Either way, they’re in a hole to a tough team — not the start to their postseason they were hoping for.

Takeaways

This only works for Cleveland if they can score. It goes without saying, you can only win by outscoring your opponent. The scoring part is crucial for Cleveland because their defense has been abysmal all season long and we’re way past the point where we can expect their mid-season personnel changes to have any serious effect at that end. Cleveland was just 8-of-34 on 3-pointers, including 1-of-9 in the fourth quarter. Two of their starters — Jeff Green and George Hill — combined to shoot 3-of-14 on the night. Their two offense-only subs — Jose Calderon and Kyle Korver — were a combined 0-of-6. Cleveland’s only hope for a deep run is to be an elite offensive unit. They have to make shots for that to happen.

Victor Oladipo is not messing around. Oladipo was superb, scoring 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting and adding four steals. His energy has driven this Pacers team all season long, keeping them engaged on defense, and fueling their transition attack. This game was a perfect encapsulation of what he’s been this season — dropping 10 points in the fourth quarter, including two huge 3-pointers. If anyone thought his regular season was a mirage that would dissolve once the playoffs started, they’re sorely mistaken.

Next: Do the Indiana Pacers finally have LeBron James' number?

Lance Stephenson is here for the LeBron matchup. Born Ready just loves playing against LeBron James. The juice isn’t always productive — leading to ear-blowing, bear-poking or the unnecessarily hard foul he committed on LeBron in the second-half that could have easily sparked all sorts of negative consequences. Still, an engaged Stephenson is good for the Pacers. His usage rate in this game was 36.8 percent higher than anyone else on the team and his highest in any game this season, and he was productive as well. You obviously have take the good with the bad when it comes to Lance but at least the Pacers know he isn’t going to just disappear in this series.