CLEVELAND CAVALIERS VS. INDIANA PACERS G3 PREDICTIONS: Who wins & why?

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS VS. INDIANA PACERS G3 PREDICTIONS: Who wins & why?

All right. Uh, let’s make our picks for tonight. I don’t I’m going to be shocked if anybody picks the Cavs to lose. Do we have anybody here? I am. I’m picking the Cavs to lose. I don’t feel good about the team. I think they’ve shown no toughness and no no grit. I’m not as convinced as everybody else is that all three guys are going to play. I hope I’m wrong. I certainly hope I’m wrong about picking them to lose, but I I I got the Pacers in in a close game at home. Okay. That’s the best news I’ve heard all day is because you are the big you you you can you you become like this homer sometimes with the Cavs and I feel like you’re frustrated with them right now. I am. And so that makes me think they’re going to win. Cavs win by by double digits tonight. Uh I listen I I got the I got the Cavs. Um all three of the guys have to play. I’m sorry. Um you know do what you ever what you have to do right now. You know your heart’s on the line because you won 64 games or how many games you won. You’re the best team in the league. If you telling me that you can’t go get a win on the road and and you had singledigit losses for most of the year, I I’m questioning what you’re doing. I think Donovan Mitchell comes back, he rallies the troops, we need a game from uh Darius Garland. We need whatever Hunter and Moy can give them. I I get if they get this win, the series is a different series going into game four. They’re going to win because they have to win. I mean, it’s not a it’s not a must-win. I hate when people say that. I I say that sometimes. Oh, it’s a must-win. Nope. The only thing that’s a must-win is an elimination game. Well, Jay, is it is it a can’t lose? No, it’s not a must win. I mean, it’s a must win. To me, you’re just parsing words. It’s the same thing. If you can’t lose, well, you can lose it because you there’s a scenario that exists. If they lose this game and they win the series, no team has ever come back from 3. Correct in the NBA basketball? No. No. No team has ever done it. And baseball, obviously, the Yankees blew a three-0 lead. The Red Sox, but I don’t think in the NBA any team has ever come back from a 3 0. Does that mean that it can’t happen? It could. It could happen. 7% of the teams in the NBA that lose the first two games in the series come back and win. Only six times in the history of the NBA, including the Denver series a week ago, has a team lost the first two games at home and come back to win the series. This Cavaliers team, if healthy, is 100% capable of doing that. They will win tonight because they have to win tonight. And I I think it’s going to be I I agree with you, Dustin. I think it’s going to be a rather comfortable lead. Not to say that Indie won’t make it close late cuz that’s what they do. But I think the Cavs learned a lot from game two and I think they’re going to make the appropriate adjustments. Kenny Atkinson is a better coach than he showed in this series. The Cavs were winning both games one and two. Yeah. In the fourth quarter, a 20-point lead in game two. Well, but G game one, Indiana was the better team in game one. They closed out better in both games. And this is where games are won in the NBA, closeouts. In both games, I give Indiana an A+ and I give the Cavs an F in both games. Yeah. And that a lot of that I know the Pacers shot nearly 60% from three. The Cavs shot like 22% from three and they still had the lead in the fourth. My point is the Cavs are the better team in the series. They we they stole two games from us. They did because they were better in the closeout situation and not just a little better. They were head and shoulders, but they put on a clinic on how to close games and we put on a clinic on how to blow games. Must you need to see desperation? You have to be desperate. Guys need to be on the floor. Guys need to be gutting it out. Uh you got to do whatever you need. Fight, claw, steal, grab, whatever you need to do to get a win, and that’s the only thing that matters. Go up uh or win this game and make it 2-1. And then anything happens in game four and we’ve got a series at that point. They always say a series an NBA series doesn’t begin until a road team wins. Well, in this situation, maybe the series doesn’t begin until a home team wins. Yeah, let’s hold off on the home team winning for at least two more games. But yeah, I hope so. Shams on Sports Center just a minute ago said after going through pregame workouts, the expectation is Darius is going to play. Great. Wonderful. Great. What about the other guys? Who said that on Sports Center? Shams. What about the other two? It I didn’t see the reporting the other two. I’m looking online right now. Now I think those two quickly I know we’ve got to go. Who would you guys say is the most important of the three? If you only have one of the three. See I think it’s Garland. Garland. I I Moy is Moy is the defensive player of the year. I know. But man Garland to me the things that they were killing us on at the end of the game are Garland strengths. You know getting open, inbounding the ball. What about rebounding on a free throw though? Anybody can do that. Put a body on somebody. It certainly helps with Moy. I agree. I agree. Both guys I would love to have, but at this point if I only could have one, I’m going to take Moy.

Cleveland Cavaliers (64-18, first in the Eastern Conference) vs. Indiana Pacers (50-32, fourth in the Eastern Conference)

Indianapolis; Friday, 7:30 p.m. EDT

Cavaliers -2.5; over/under is 229.5

EASTERN CONFERENCE SECOND ROUND: Pacers lead series 2-0

BOTTOM LINE: The Indiana Pacers host the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference second round with a 2-0 lead in the series. The Pacers won the last meeting 120-119 on Tuesday, led by 23 points from Myles Turner. Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 48.

The Pacers are 29-22 in Eastern Conference games. Indiana is 22-15 against opponents over .500.

The Cavaliers are 12-4 against Central Division opponents. Cleveland is 5-4 in games decided by less than 4 points.

The Pacers make 48.8% of their shots from the field this season, which is 3.4 percentage points higher than the Cavaliers have allowed to their opponents (45.4%). The Cavaliers score 6.8 more points per game (121.9) than the Pacers allow (115.1).

TOP PERFORMERS: Tyrese Haliburton is averaging 18.6 points and 9.2 assists for the Pacers. Aaron Nesmith is averaging 14.6 points over the last 10 games.

Darius Garland is shooting 47.2% and averaging 20.6 points for the Cavaliers. Max Strus is averaging 2.7 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Pacers: 8-2, averaging 118.5 points, 44.5 rebounds, 28.7 assists, 7.4 steals and 7.0 blocks per game while shooting 48.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 114.1 points per game. | https://www.espn.com/nba/preview/_/gameId/401769741

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