Indiana Pacers Defense Can’t Slow Down Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 Loss

The Indiana Pacers missed their chance to steal Game 1, but their poor defense allowed the Cleveland Cavaliers to set the pace to open the series.

The Indiana Pacers were a C.J. Miles jump shot away from taking Game 1 from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Sadly for the Pacers, it didn’t go in.

While some of Twitter was ready to ask why Paul George passed the ball instead of taking on LeBron James in a double-team situation (more on that in a later post), that wasn’t Indiana’s biggest issue.

Neither was the fact Paul George didn’t make a left-handed pass that only LeBron is capable of, but that’s what happens when you stare at Twitter for too long looking for what went wrong with the Pacers.

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But even if you somehow believe C.J. Miles shouldn’t have the ball after the best regular season shooting performance of his career, and even if you think Paul George should have made what likely would have been an incredibly risky pass we’ve never seen him make, you can’t ignore Indiana’ biggest problem in Game 1.

Their defense. It was awful.

It wasn’t just the fact that Indiana allowed Cleveland to shoot 53.8% from the floor and 11 of 28 (39.3%) from 3-point range. It was the fact they allowed so many easy shots for the Cavaliers. While Indiana actually outscored them in the paint, 46-42, it certainly felt like the Pacers were allowing Cleveland to get to the rim much more easily. They were 17 of 26, or 65.4% at the rim.

Whether it was blown assignments, overhelping, or questionable switches (doesn’t seem like you should want Jeff Teague on LeBron), it looked like the Pacers were playing defense as a courtesy to the Cavaliers, not as an actual way to stop them.

https://twitter.com/cavs/status/853336954796032000

There were also too many 3-pointer like this, too.

Consider that other than Richard Jefferson and Kyrie Irving, every other Cavaliers player shot 50% or better from the field.

There isn’t an easy fix. Moving Lance Stephenson to the starting shooting guard position may be better defensively for the Pacers, but then you’ve either taken the ball out of Jeff Teague and Paul George’s hands, or you’re expecting Stephenson to play differently than the way he has since returning to Indiana. Monta Ellis had 11 points and 4 rebounds, but he must do more than that if he is a defensive issue for the Pacers.

Glenn Robinson III might be back for Game 2, but he won’t be 100% healthy. GR3 or not, Nate McMillan either has to keep riding with Monta or bring C.J. Miles back as the starting shooting guard. This could hurt the bench and Stephenson, but whatever is happening now isn’t working, either.

We’ll find out soon enough what McMillan plans to do.