The Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers get the honor of being the first two participants in the new NBA in-season tournament when they tip off the event Friday night in Indianapolis.
Seven games are slated on opening night of the soccer-inspired tournament — none earlier than the scheduled tip in Indiana — during which the Cavaliers and Pacers will join the Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons in round-robin play in East Group A.
The game is a rematch of the Pacers’ 125-113 win at Cleveland last Saturday, a contest in which Indiana reserve Aaron Nesmith scorched the Cavaliers for 26 points while the hosts were without star guard Donovan Mitchell.
Indiana, which was 2-0 at the time, has since struggled, falling 112-105 at home to the Chicago Bulls and then 155-104 at Boston on Wednesday night. The 105- and 104-point efforts came after the Pacers had scorched the Washington Wizards and Cavaliers for an average of 134 points in their first two games.
“Ugly game,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said before leaving Boston. “They played great, but we allowed them to play as great as they played.”
Though allowing 155 points captured headlines, the Pacers’ defeat was marked by a second straight game of poor shooting from beyond the 3-point arc.
Indiana went 20-for-43 from deep in the win over the Wizards and then 15-for-38 against the Cavaliers. Nesmith, Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield each contributed six to the 35 total in that span.
But the club has gone cold from beyond the arc in the two losses, missing 66 of 83 attempts. Nesmith has gone just 2-for-10 in those games, while Andrew Nembhard has been 1-for-11 and Bennedict Mathurin 1-for-7.
Haliburton sat out the debacle in Boston with a sprained right ankle. The NBA, which has cautioned teams against resting healthy players in the in-season tournament, hopes the Indiana star can return for the event curtain-raiser.
Mitchell appears to have fully recovered from a strained right hamstring that sidelined him for the first game against Indiana. He scored 26 points when the Cavaliers lost 109-91 in the opener of a home-and-home series against the Knicks, then put on a show at Madison Square Garden in the rematch Wednesday, pouring in 30 points in a 95-89 win that ended a three-game losing streak.
Though the Cavaliers as a team and Mitchell as an individual scored four more points than in the first meeting, coach J.B. Bickerstaff observed the real difference was at the other end of the court, where they held the Knicks to 89 points rather than 109.
“We showed our true grit,” Bickerstaff said. “We didn’t have an offensive explosion. But the way we win and the way we will be most successful is if we are a great defensive team, which we have the capability of being. That’s where the Cavaliers hang their hat — being able to get stops on demand.”
The Pacers’ 125 points in the first matchup with Cleveland were the most the Cavs have allowed this season. Indiana shot 49.0 percent, with Nesmith going 10-for-16 and Myles Turner 7-for-14 en route to 20 points.
Haliburton (21 points, 13 assists) and Turner (20 points, 12 rebounds) had double-doubles in the win, which came despite 33- and 31-point outbursts by Cleveland’s Evan Mobley and Caris LeVert, respectively, in Mitchell’s absence.
–Field Level Media