CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cavaliers find themselves needing to bounce back Tuesday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Indiana Pacers, and their challenge is turning into an uphill climb.
Darius Garland has been out with a toe injury and his status is uncertain for Game 2. Now, Evan Mobley (ankle) and DeAndre Hunter (dislocated right thumb) are questionable.
The Cavs “were quietly concerned with the Pacers for the last month or so,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said Monday in dissecting the matchup.
Here is what else Indiana and the national media are saying ahead of Game 2, which tips off at 7 p.m. Tuesday on TNT from Rocket Arena:
‘You had two players take 50 of their 98 shots’
And one of them was Ty Jerome, a criticism ESPN’s Jay Williams gave on “Get Up:”
“I am extremely concerned about the Cavs,” Williams said. “No. 1, Garland and that situation. And No. 2, defensively, you talk about one of the best teams in the league, they just looked uninterested in this game. For 19 threes that they made on 54 percent shooting, with all the narratives that have been looming around Cleveland throughout the entire year, I better see a different Cleveland team in Game 2.”
Rick Carlisle, Myles Turner discuss Game 2 preparations
The Indianapolis Star caught up with Pacers coach Rick Carlisle and forward Myles Turner on Monday, as they discussed their preparations for Game 2. The Star provided the following videos:
Allen owes his spot to a Pacers trade
Remember when the Cavs acquired Jarrett Allen in 2021? It would not have happened without the Pacers, writes Billy Heyen for The Sporting News. The deal was centered around James Harden, but Indiana also was part of that four-team deal. The Brooklyn Nets got Harden, the Houston Rockets acquired Victor Oladipo and picks, while the Pacers added Caris LeVert — who wound up in Cleveland later — and the Cavs got Allen while sending out Dante Exum and a first-round pick from Milwaukee.
Criticism of Haliburton shows he’s arrived
The Athletic’s anonymous players poll last month that anointed Tyrese Haliburton as the league’s most-overated player spurred a commentary by Travis Hines of the Des Moines Register, which covers Iowa State.
That’s where Haliburton played college basketball, so naturally Hines came to his defense.
“It is a ruthless, vicious place where some of the planet’s top-tier haters reside,” Hines wrote. “The hating in the NBA is so advanced that it’s not even your flaws that become the locus of criticism. No, that would be too remedial, and NBA Haters, well, they run the PhD program in hating.”
The Indianapolis Star added a report on why Haliburton is a better defensive player than he admits.