Flat Cavaliers felled by Pacers

The Cleveland Cavaliers showed up flat and only at times did they round into any type of shape as the Indiana Pacers dumped the Cavaliers in game one of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals 98-80 in Cleveland.

LeBron James led Cleveland with 24 points as part of a triple-double, but the Cavaliers would not receive a double-figure point number from any starter, although they were aided by J.R Smith's 15 points from off the bench.

Cleveland will attempt to tie the series on Wednesday in Cleveland.

Swashbucklings

1)  A slow start saw the Cavaliers down by 19 after one period and they would never get closer than seven points from there on.
Indians outscored Cleveland by a combined 29 points between the first and final quarters.

2) Cleveland shot just 38 percent from the floor and there aren't many games where that's going to result in a victory.

3) Add to that an eight for thirty-four night from three-point range and your issues are even worse.
I would like to think that the shooting almost has to improve for game two.

4) Kevin Love finished with just nine points (all on three-pointers), but he only took nine shots from the floor.
Love is the second offensive option and as such, he will need to be more involved in the offense in game two and hope for a better shooting night.

5) Tyronn Lue started Jeff Green in game one and Green didn't score a point in 27 minutes of court time.
I would think that Green will not start game two after J.R. Smith scored 15 points in this loss.

6) Kyle Korver has been dealing with a bad foot, but I would have still thought that he would have played more than four minutes.
Korver missed all three shots that he took in the loss, but his first shot did everything but fall in around the rim.
Sometimes, it's not your night.

7) And folks, that is what the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to have to hope for- that it was just one bad night.
Adjustments will have to be made, but I suspect those are already in motion.
The NBA's long drawn out playoff gives the fans three days to speculate, but it also gives coaches extra time to try to fix things that are broken.
Game two looms as a big game,, here's hoping that the Cavaliers won't have a bigger game in game three being down two games.