How Well Do the Indiana Pacers Matchup With the Cleveland Cavaliers?

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Apr 2, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Indiana Pacers forward Thaddeus Young (21) defends Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) in the first quarter at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

Thaddeus Young vs Kevin Love

Kevin Love has continued to do Kevin Love things for the Cavs. He’s having his best season in a Cleveland uniform, putting up highs in Effective Field Goal percentage, points, and rebounds, and is boasting a healthy PER of 21.1.

Thaddeus Young has looked better of late after healing from an injury to his left wrist. He’s still not shooting 3’s with the (moderate) frequency he did early in the year, but the rest of his game looks healthy.

Love is the better overall player here, but he tends to go through long stretches where he just hangs out at the 3 point line on offense and then plays bad defense on the other end of the floor. Love probably has an advantage in the post on Thad, but he can’t hang with Young in space on the other end. He can probably put a halt to some of Thad’s 2nd chance scoring with his rebounding prowess, and it will take a concerted effort by the Pacers bigs to keep him off the offensive glass throughout the series.

The arrow here (again) goes to Cleveland, but Thad can “win” this matchup. Love’s counting stats will probably look better, but Thad Young can affect the game in a lot of ways that Love just doesn’t, and he could turn the tide of this matchup if he’s 100%.

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