After meeting four times in the regular season, the Indiana Pacers will suit up and take on the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will begin their journey to repeat as champions of the NBA with a first-round series against Paul George and the Indiana Pacers.
These two teams faced each other four times during the regular season, with the Cavaliers coming out as winners on three occasions.
LeBron James is rather familiar with the Pacers, going back to the epic Miami Heat-Pacers playoff matchups just a few short years ago, but the situation is much different.
The Pacers are a different team now; the roster has completely changed from top to bottom with the exception of Paul George (and apparently Lance Stephenson) and the new(er)-look Pacers get the defending world champs in Round 1.
The Cavaliers have been struggling as of late, but are eager to head into the playoffs with a 0-0 record and the Pacers may be their best-case scenario matchup for the first round.
Here's why, starting with the elephant in the room.
May 28, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Miami Heat forward LeBron James (6) and Indiana Pacers guard Lance Stephenson (1) stand on the court during the fourth quarter in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2014 NBA Playoffs at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Indiana defeats Miami 93-90. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
LeBron v. Lance II
One of my favorite all-time playoff moments is the infamous cool wave of air that Lance Stephenson emitted onto LeBron James' neck.
It was probably the most hilarious thing I have ever seen while watching live NBA basketball, playoffs or not, mainly because I still don't know if Lance was being serious and thought it would be a smart intimidation move or if he's just crazy and wanted to see how far he could stretch his boundaries.
Either way, it was excellent television and if their meeting back on April 2 was any indication of what a series between these two might look like, I'm all in.
What I noticed from the Cavs' double-overtime win against the Pacers from early April was just how much Lance wanted to get in LeBron's face.
This was Lance's first game back with the Pacers (so of course it was against Cleveland) and while he only played 18 minutes, he made it a point to talk, touch or just look at LeBron.
He wasn't necessarily trying to start anything, but Lance was extremely deadly at getting in the heads of his opponent and that is what he wants to do with LeBron.
While the marquee matchup will understandingly and deservedly be LeBron v. PG, the undercard includes Lance Stephenson getting a chance to avenge his previous meeting with The King.
Stephenson only had four points, three rebounds and three assists (and five fouls) in their latest matchup, but he will have the opportunity to do more in this series and should be a valuable asset for the Pacers as long as his temper is kept at ease.
Hopefully the Cavs will be seeing plenty of this from LeBron.
Feeding Kevin Love early and often
In his third season as the third option with the Cavs, Kevin Love is having his best season in a Cavalier uniform and should be a driving component behind the Cavs trying to take down the Pacers.
The Cavaliers just about always start out their games by getting Love involved with the offense and being consistent with it throughout the first quarter.
Love is eighth in the league in first-quarter scoring at 7.6 points per quarter; however, he takes a huge drop-off in production after that.
Love is 68th in second-quarter scoring, 38th in third-quarter scoring and, worst of all, he ranks 150th in fourth-quarter scoring at a mere 3.0 points per game.
Apr 5, 2017; Boston, MA, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) works the ball against Boston Celtics center Al Horford (42) in the first quarter at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
Love has a distinct mismatch while playing offense when being guarded by Thaddeus Young.
Love is an above-average post player and has an array of moves that he can use to beat his defender — who in this case should be Young the majority of the time.
Young is shorter and smaller than Love, who is great at backing down his defender and hitting a silky turnaround jumper off one foot.
Love is averaging 6.3 points in the first quarter against the Pacers this season, the most of any Cavaliers' player, and has shown that he can exploit Young's athleticism by bullying him in the post.
The only issue is whether or not the team will factor Love into the offense after the first quarter ends.
Love is not quick enough to guard Young and if he doesn't fade away from the offense for most of the game, his presence becomes much more valuable on the court.
Love needs the ball more and the Cavs should be desperate to feed it to him.
Aaron Brooks has 44 career technical fouls
There isn't any need to expand on this any more, but I thought it was interesting someone so small as Aaron Brooks, the Indiana Pacers' backup point guard, could apparently pack so much frustration.
So, as a message to Kyrie Irving and J.R. Smith regarding Aaron Brooks temper: GAS. HIM. UP.
Channing Frye: matchup nightmare?
Channing Frye only plays a hair less than 19 minutes per game, but he will be one of the Cavs' most important matchups when the bench unit comes in for extended periods.
While Frye has a 7-foot frame, he's not in the game to rebound (he only averages 7.5 rebounds per 36 minutes); rather he plays to shoot as many threes as possible.
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Frye is shooting 40.9 percent on threes this season on 4.5 attempts per game.
He is a certified sniper and the defense cannot be lazy with him or else his quick release and superior pick-and-pop awareness will rack up nine quick points before a minute of game time can even run off.
Frye should get more run in this series than in the regular season and that has a lot to do with who exactly will be guarding him.
Since Frye is such a great shooter with such a quick release, defenses have to respect him and commit to staying in front of him the entire time he is on the court.
This limits his defender and keeps them around the perimeter, something the Pacers' young star and excellent shot blocker, Myles Turner, want to avoid completely.
The Pacers' other big men such as Al Jefferson, Lavoy Allen and Kevin Seraphin will have to respect Frye, too, opening the paint for Kyrie and LeBron.
Those three are not quick enough to recover in time on defense which makes it a pick your poison type situation for the Pacers whenever Frye is in the game.
Mar 27, 2017; San Antonio, TX, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson (13) is fouled while shooting by San Antonio Spurs center Dewayne Dedmon (3) during the first half at AT&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
The X-Factor
LeBron, Kyrie and (hopefully) Love, should all have their fair share of success in this series, which is expected, but others need to contribute for the Cavs to make things easier on themselves.
A guy that is mentioned over and over as someone who can change the entire flow of a game in favor of the Cavs is Tristan Thompson, who is hoping to be back at full strength after missing four games before returning for the Cavs' loss to the Raptors in the last game of the season.
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Thompson isn't a superstar — even though he gets paid like one. However, he has been a staple of success for the Cavs this season.
Thompson is known for his unbelievable offensive rebounding ability and how he seems to have a natural feel for how to carve out space and work the opposition, making him extremely valuable in terms of creating extra possessions for his team.
When Thompson records at least 10 rebounds in a game, the Cavs are 29-9. What's even more impressive is that when Thompson records a double-double, the Cavs are 17-2 this season.
Essentially, when Thompson plays well, the Cavs tend to follow his lead.
He isn't going to win games with his offense — although he has adopted a reliable floater when scooping up offensive rebounds — but he will win games with his tenacity and relentlessness on the glass.
Shoot the 3 and shoot it often
I feel like this isn't something that should be brought up because of the volume with which the Cavs have been shooting the three the past two seasons, but against a team such as the Pacers, it becomes ever more important.
The Pacers are an incredibly average team on defense and are even worse at defending the three.
The Pacers allow 29.1 three-point attempts per game, which ranks 26th in the league.
The Cavs shoot 33.9 threes per game, good enough for second, and they averaged 39.3 three point attempts in their three wins against the Pacers this season.
If that trend continues and the Pacers allow the Cavs to shoot threes at will, it could be a relatively quick series.
Prediction
Despite the Cavaliers' failures over the past couple of months, they will easily take care of the Pacers. Too much star power from the Cavs and not enough defense from the Pacers will make this a quick series with the Cavaliers winning in five games.
