A lot has changed since the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Indiana Pacers last met, and that meeting was more than a week ago. They meet again tonight (Monday).
The Cavs’ 120-109 win in their NBA Cup, East Group A matchup back on November 21 seems like a lifetime ago as both sides have switched places in terms of current form. Following their last game, Cleveland moved to 11-6, while Indiana dropped to 2-14.
But after their shambolic start to the season, the Pacers have begun a mini-rebuild. Currently riding a two-game winning streak and playing solid basketball through their All-Star forward Pascal Siakam, along with Bennedict Mathurin and rim protector Jay Huff.
Meanwhile, Cleveland is in the midst of a three-game slump and looking out of ideas at the moment. One win could solve the issues they face, but the Pacers side they face tonight (Monday) will be different.
Defensively, the Pacers have vastly improved since their opening ten games of the NBA season. They have held their last three opponents to fewer than 101 points, and in that span, have lost just once, which came on a buzzer-beater to the Toronto Raptors – a team that the Cavs have been haunted by recently.
However, the Pacers come into this game having won on the buzzer in their last encounter. A game-winning shot from Siakam handed Indiana a 103-101 win over the Chicago Bulls.
They came up in the clutch, but the massive difference was the key defensive stops they got down the stretch, led by Huff, who leads the NBA in blocks per game at 2.2. He also scored the first 14 points for his side in that game.
These factors don’t match how the Cavaliers are playing right now. They dropped their third game in a row with a 117-115 defeat to the Boston Celtics on Sunday, and despite the injury problems hampering Kenny Atkinson’s side, they are not playing like a championship-calibre team.
Donovan Mitchell could only muster 18 points against Boston, but even though he wasn’t shooting the ball well, he was surprisingly not the man at the heart of their final play. Instead, he was the player inbounding the ball to Evan Mobley, whose shot hit nothing but crisp Ohio air.
The Cavs are having issues with being the aggressors, getting stops when needed and starting brightly. A stark contrast to how they performed last season and how they performed in the early to mid-stages of November.