2025 NBA PLAYOFFS East Semifinals: #1 Cleveland Cavaliers vs #4 Indiana Pacers (IND leads 1-0)

[Iwasawitness]

Cleveland really needs to do a better job defending the three. And what on earth was Donovan Mitchell doing under the rim?

[djsunyc]

ty jerome looks like an AI generated kevin love lol

[Jazz9]

Cleveland really needs to do a better job defending the three. And what on earth was Donovan Mitchell doing under the rim?

[Iwasawitness]

If Cleveland manages to find its three point shooting again… good luck Indiana. With that said, it won’t matter much if Cleveland doesn’t contest these threes.

[Chuck Everett]

Pretty great first half. Cavs haven't played in 8 days, so I expect them to play much better in that second half. Pacers going to have to match their effort.

[Triple M]

Cleveland really needs to do a better job defending the three. And what on earth was Donovan Mitchell doing under the rim?

It looked like he thought he couldn’t touch it

[JujitsuFlip]

If Cleveland manages to find its three point shooting again… good luck Indiana. With that said, it won’t matter much if Cleveland doesn’t contest these threes.

I think the transition defense is the bigger issue. Pacers weren't generating great looks against set defense. Most their actions come off the fast break or pseudo fast break.

If Cavs can't figure out the transition defense, gonna be a tough series for em.

[ITYSL]

Cavs have to be happy/relieved that they shot 5 for 20 from 3 and are only down 6

[rockmanslim]

Steven Adams is in Monopoly Go, he's everywhere now

[Wolfgang630]

If Indiana wins today the series goes 7 imo

[rolling_91]

Pacers played a great 1st half. 9-15 from 3, 60% from the field, 7-7 from the line. Held the Cavs to 5-20 from 3.

Cavs really miss Garland’s playmaking and 3 point shooting. The offense has been stagnant at times. They have to play better defense to win this game

[cavs4872]

How is it halftime already? Did they tip this game on the dot

[Nuntius]

Very good first half for us. Our bench got us the lead at the end of the 1st and we managed to withstand Cleveland's run in the middle of the second to keep that lead.

We had two main problems in this first half. Turnovers and defensive rebounding. The turnovers didn't hurt as much because most of them were dead-ball turnovers (at least 3 of the 8 were offensive fouls) but the offensive rebounds that we allowed the Cavs to get did hurt. Interestingly, Cleveland's offensive boards weren't due to their bigs (which is an area they have a definite advantage). It was from their wings grabbing contested long rebounds in the space between the FT line and the 3-point line.

Speaking of 3s, I cannot expect the Cavs to keep shooting poorly from 3. They shot 25% from 3 in this first half (5/20). That number is bound to go up. Water always find its level.

I expect the Cavs to make multiple runs in this second half. A 6-point lead means literally nothing against an offense as potent as these Cavs. Don't get me wrong, it's great to have this small lead but I want us to approach this second half like we're behind in score.

[falcolombardi]

Cavs have to be happy/relieved that they shot 5 for 20 from 3 and are only down 6

Okc game 4 and minnesota game 5 "amateurs"

[xBulletproof]

Possession game not going the Pacers way, they need to do better at reigning that in. 40 shots at the rim vs the Cavs 51.

Stop turning it over, and hit the boards. Do that and you have a good shot at taking game 1.

[Captain_Obvious]

I actually can't get over the free throws Jerome got at the end

[Wizop]

64+58=122 first to 120.

[Nuntius]

Cleveland really needs to do a better job defending the three. And what on earth was Donovan Mitchell doing under the rim?

It looked like he thought he couldn’t touch it

And he probably couldn't. The scorekeeper didn't credit Myles Turner with a block there which means that Turner didn't touch the ball at all. It simply slipped from Mitchell's hands as he was going up which is why he couldn't touch it.

[Nuntius]

64+58=122 first to 120.

Interestingly, this is exactly what that initial comment that you replied to was saying. What are the odds?

[okboomer]

It's only one half, though this Cavaliers defensive situation shouldnt inspire much confidence.