Cavs remain calm despite frustrating 108-93 loss to Pacers

Although they looked like NBA gods, Cleveland Cavaliers looked human against the Indiana Pacers for the first time this season. In their 108-93 loss to the Pacers, c The Cavs have struggled to find consistency on offense, seeing shots that usually connect fall to the side. But when Indiana turned up the pressure in the third quarter, guarding Cleveland from baseline to baseline, the bottom gave way, and the Cavs suffered a rare loss.

“We didn’t handle their pressure very well,” the Cleveland coach said Kenny Atkinson he said. “And that bleeds into your defense, doesn’t it?” You start turning it over, you’re not shooting well, and they’re an elite transition team. … Their pressure was a big part of their success tonight.”

In the third quarter, the Cavaliers committed seven turnovers, with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland combining three of those fallacies. Those turnovers led to six easy points for Indiana and a total of 12 points off turnovers during the quarter.

“We kind of, as they say, earned it,” Atkinson admitted after the 108-93 loss to the Indiana Pacers. “We had two days off, two days to prepare for this game. We didn’t do a great job from a coaching standpoint.”

As a result, the Cavs’ 15-point lead quickly turned into a six-point deficit by the end of the quarter, and the blame for this collapse rests squarely on Cleveland’s shoulders. Indiana’s pressure interrupted their offensive flow and allowed the Pacers to dictate the closing moments of the match.

“We didn’t play up to our standards,” Garland said. “The first half was pretty good. The second half somehow ran away from our principles. They dictated the second half.

How can the Cavs prevent another full-court push in their next matchup with the Pacers

Despite Indiana’s second-half pressure dictating the flow of the game, Cleveland doesn’t look like it’s being pressured. Instead, the Cavs see it as a chance to get revenge on the Pacers, with both teams ready to face each other again.

“It’s happening,” Garland said. “(The season is) super long. So some days, you have one of those games. I mean, we went a whole month and didn’t lose, so we needed one. I just didn’t know when it would come. But tonight is the night. Yes, we play them again on Tuesday. They have to come see us again.”

While Indiana’s defensive pressure confused the Cavs throughout the game, they already know what needs to be done to prevent that from happening again. According to Garland, if Indiana continues to press all over the field, Cleveland’s players must set screens to separate defenders and the ball-handling secondary must be ready.

While that may seem like a simple enough concept, now that the Cavs understand the Pacers’ defensive pressure, it may be easier to adapt to it on the fly with their own counterattack. How Cleveland lost to Indiana became a shock to the system. That can become an advantage, even at 33-5, and empower the Cavs to continue dominating the NBA.

“We missed open (shots) and then we didn’t guard,” Mitchell said. “So it’s coming together and coming together.” And it’s hard, but you know, if we don’t shoot, we have to be able to guard, and we didn’t do that.”