{"id":7576,"date":"2025-05-03T22:00:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T22:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/7576\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T22:00:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T22:00:13","slug":"cavaliers-ready-for-fast-paced-nba-playoffs-series-against-pacers-when-it-begins-on-sunday-night-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/7576\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavaliers ready for fast-paced NBA Playoffs series against Pacers when it begins on Sunday night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe have the athleticism and speed, it\u2019s just the initial shock of them doing it so consistently,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cI give (coach) Rick Carlisle and their group so much credit because it plays into their personnel. The message to our guys is how resilient we can be with our running. We do it three times, they’re going to do it four. Can we do it for longer?\u201d<\/p>\n

The matchup everyone will be watching when the series starts Sunday night at Rocket Arena will be between Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell.<\/p>\n

Haliburton \u2014 who averaged 17.6 points against Milwaukee \u2014 is averaging a playoff-best 11.6 assists per game running the Pacers’ five out offense. He also was the first Indiana player in 11 years to begin a playoff series with four straight double-doubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a talented player. Since the All-Star break, he\u2019s been averaging like 20 points and 11 assists,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cI have a lot of respect for him and what he brings over there. We understand how important he is to that group. He\u2019s a threat and we got to make sure we try to find ways to neutralize one of the biggest threats on their team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell averaged 23.8 points against the Miami Heat in the opening round. If the All-Star guard puts up 30 points on Sunday, it will be his eighth straight game with at least 30 points in a series opener, which would surpass Michael Jordan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re the best team in the East for a reason,\u201d Haliburton said. \u201cThey\u2019ve got a lot of depth. They shoot the ball well, defend at a high level, they got rim protection, they\u2019ve got everything. We\u2019re excited to compete against those guys, and there\u2019s not a ton of film — them having all their guys and us having all our guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both teams have had time to prepare for what is expected to be a long series. Cleveland closed out Miami in four games on Monday night while Indiana’s series against Milwaukee wrapped up on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Starting guard Andrew Nembhard, one of the Pacers top defenders, believes the extra time will benefit the Pacers because they avoided another physical battle on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a big advantage, us not having to go to Milwaukee and play Game 6,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re better when we\u2019re rested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garland’s status<\/p>\n

Cleveland’s Darius Garland will be a game-time decision as he continues to deal with a nagging big toe injury. The All-Star guard \u2014 who missed the final two games of the regular season and then Games 3 and 4 of the Miami series after aggravating the injury \u2014 did not practice on Saturday, but had a heavy workload and went through a full-contact session on Friday.<\/p>\n

Atkinson said Garland is likely going to have to deal with the injury for the rest of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe toe\u2019s a tough one,\u201d Atkinson said. \u201cThere\u2019s pain and all that. But the good thing when we watch him shooting right now, he\u2019s moving well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Change of pace<\/p>\n

Yes, the Pacers are playing their second straight playoff series against a division foe, but it could be very different from the chippy Milwaukee series.<\/p>\n

While the Pacers and Bucks sparred 20 times over the past two seasons including back-to-back first round series, both won by the Pacers, these teams haven\u2019t met in the postseason since back-to-back first round matchups in 2017 and 2018, when LeBron James was Cleveland\u2019s star player.<\/p>\n

In fact, they\u2019ve not even really squared off this season with either team at full strength. The result: Indiana has resorted to some unique ways to prepare.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would bet that\u2019s not happened a lot in NBA history,\u201d Haliburton said \u201cI missed two games, a game and a half, so I mean the film is weird. But I think you take the bits and pieces as much as you can and figure out how to insert. … I think you have to use your imagination at some point, watching the last series and seeing how Tyler (Herro), how he\u2019s attacking these guys offensively. It\u2019s very interesting, but it poses a little bit of a different threat and an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s No. 2<\/p>\n

When San Antonio announced Friday that Gregg Popovich would no longer coach the Spurs, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle moved up to second on wins list of active coaches.<\/p>\n

Carlisle needs seven more regular-season victories to become the 11th coach to reach 1,000 wins and over his 23 NBA seasons, Carlisle has been through plenty of tough matchups. And he doesn\u2019t want anybody overlooking this series, which features two of the league\u2019s smaller-market but well-supported teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndianapolis and Cleveland are two both great cities and very underrated cities,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve been to Cleveland enough times to know their fan base is rabid, their building is one of the loudest. So it\u2019s going to be a high level of competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP sports writer Mike Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Indiana<\/p>\n

Credit: AP<\/p>\n

\"icon<\/p>\n

Credit: AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe have the athleticism and speed, it\u2019s just the initial shock of them doing it so consistently,\u201d Atkinson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3637,7,3638,3639,3640,6,11,3422,3423,3641],"class_list":{"0":"post-7576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-annual-meeting","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-berkshire-hathaway","11":"tag-bh","12":"tag-chi-health-center","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nba-playoffs","15":"tag-nebraska","16":"tag-omaha","17":"tag-shareholder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114446154098877658","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}