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INDIANAPOLIS – The mood in the Pacers’ locker room after Friday’s 126-104 Game 3 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers was a little icy.
The way Aaron Nesmith saw it, there was only one way to assess the loss.
“They just played harder than us,” Nesmith said of the Cavs. “We just gotta match the intensity. We have to come out from the beginning of the game (on Sunday) and play hard for 48 minutes. That’s it.”
Nesmith, whose relentless intensity is rarely in question, had the same answer to three more questions before exiting the locker room. T.J. McConnell, a locker over from Nesmith, agreed with his teammate’s view of Friday night’s disappointment, which took a sideways turn with a 34-13 second quarter by the Cavs.
The Pacers, with a chance to take a 3-0 series lead, will now look to keep the Cavs from tying the series Sunday night and taking homecourt advantage back to Cleveland.
“We need to show some fight,” McConnell said. “I don’t think we showed much of that tonight, to be honest.”
The Cavs welcomed back Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and De'Andre Hunter to the lineup, allowing Cleveland to play at full strength for the first time in the series. The Cavs also threw a 3-2 zone at the Pacers, which bogged down the offense for an extended period for the first time in the playoffs.
The 6-11 Mobley and the 6-8 Hunter took turns on top of the zone. During one four-minute stretch of the second quarter, the Pacers did not score as the Cavs’ lead ballooned from four to 13 points.
“It’s a nice curveball to throw at us,” McConnell said. “Hunter on top and Mobley covering a lot of space in the back, you know, they’ve got the personnel to do it. It bothered us. But we have to make adjustments and figure out what we can do better when they throw that at us.”
Cleveland withstood a push from the Pacers late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. The 21-point halftime lead was whittled to 11 on a 3-pointer by Pascal Siakam with 8:26 left. But the Cavs quickly pushed it back out to a comfortable lead on 3-pointers by Donovan Mitchell and Max Strus and cruised to the finish line.
“I don’t think they expected it,” Mobley said of the Cavs’ zone defense. “It’s also a defense we haven’t really run ourselves that much. I feel like it threw them off. They had to adjust and see where they could score from and by that time they adjusted, it was already pretty late.”
Mobley said the Cavs felt like they played well the past two games — other than the end of the Game 2. Coming into Game 4, Mobley said the Cavs are “pretty confident.”
“We played two good games, I feel like,” he said. “We just have to compound that and make it three and finish strong. That’s the main thing.”
Mitchell, who finished with 43 points, was again a thorn in the Pacers’ side, and most likely will continue to be the rest of the series.
“We’re not going to shut him down,” McConnell said. “We just have to keep trying to make things difficult. We need to be better in coverages and talking and trying to be physical with him.”
On the other side, the Game 2 hero, Tyrese Haliburton, had one of his worst nights of the playoffs with four points and five assists on 2-for-8 shooting. After the game, the Pacers media relations did not make Haliburton available for interviews.
“I thought Max did a great job (on Haliburton),” Mobley said. “All the guards did a great job denying him the ball and when we scored, getting to his body as quickly as possible and not letting him touch it as much as possible. That’s been the game plan so far and I feel like those guys have been doing a great job of it.”
One of the few bright spots for the Pacers on Friday was the play of Benedict Mathurin, who led the way with 23 points off the bench. But after so much buildup after two victories in Cleveland, the Pacers’ crowd — ready to party on a beautiful Friday night — was subdued in the final minutes of the game with the Cavs leading comfortably.
It was the first home loss of the playoffs for the Pacers.
“It wasn’t good,” McConnell said. “It didn’t feel good. We’ll make the necessary adjustments. To come this far and not lose a playoff game at home, I think this just speaks volumes to our crowd. They were great again tonight. I wish we could have got them a little more into it. But it just didn’t work out that way.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers struggle with full strength Cavs, zone defense in Game 3 loss
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The way Aaron Nesmith saw it, there was only one way to assess the loss.
“They just played harder than us,” Nesmith said of the Cavs. “We just gotta match the intensity. We have to come out from the beginning of the game (on Sunday) and play hard for 48 minutes. That’s it.”
Nesmith, whose relentless intensity is rarely in question, had the same answer to three more questions before exiting the locker room. T.J. McConnell, a locker over from Nesmith, agreed with his teammate’s view of Friday night’s disappointment, which took a sideways turn with a 34-13 second quarter by the Cavs.
The Pacers, with a chance to take a 3-0 series lead, will now look to keep the Cavs from tying the series Sunday night and taking homecourt advantage back to Cleveland.
“We need to show some fight,” McConnell said. “I don’t think we showed much of that tonight, to be honest.”
The Cavs welcomed back Evan Mobley, Darius Garland and De'Andre Hunter to the lineup, allowing Cleveland to play at full strength for the first time in the series. The Cavs also threw a 3-2 zone at the Pacers, which bogged down the offense for an extended period for the first time in the playoffs.
The 6-11 Mobley and the 6-8 Hunter took turns on top of the zone. During one four-minute stretch of the second quarter, the Pacers did not score as the Cavs’ lead ballooned from four to 13 points.
“It’s a nice curveball to throw at us,” McConnell said. “Hunter on top and Mobley covering a lot of space in the back, you know, they’ve got the personnel to do it. It bothered us. But we have to make adjustments and figure out what we can do better when they throw that at us.”
Cleveland withstood a push from the Pacers late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. The 21-point halftime lead was whittled to 11 on a 3-pointer by Pascal Siakam with 8:26 left. But the Cavs quickly pushed it back out to a comfortable lead on 3-pointers by Donovan Mitchell and Max Strus and cruised to the finish line.
“I don’t think they expected it,” Mobley said of the Cavs’ zone defense. “It’s also a defense we haven’t really run ourselves that much. I feel like it threw them off. They had to adjust and see where they could score from and by that time they adjusted, it was already pretty late.”
Mobley said the Cavs felt like they played well the past two games — other than the end of the Game 2. Coming into Game 4, Mobley said the Cavs are “pretty confident.”
“We played two good games, I feel like,” he said. “We just have to compound that and make it three and finish strong. That’s the main thing.”
Mitchell, who finished with 43 points, was again a thorn in the Pacers’ side, and most likely will continue to be the rest of the series.
“We’re not going to shut him down,” McConnell said. “We just have to keep trying to make things difficult. We need to be better in coverages and talking and trying to be physical with him.”
On the other side, the Game 2 hero, Tyrese Haliburton, had one of his worst nights of the playoffs with four points and five assists on 2-for-8 shooting. After the game, the Pacers media relations did not make Haliburton available for interviews.
“I thought Max did a great job (on Haliburton),” Mobley said. “All the guards did a great job denying him the ball and when we scored, getting to his body as quickly as possible and not letting him touch it as much as possible. That’s been the game plan so far and I feel like those guys have been doing a great job of it.”
One of the few bright spots for the Pacers on Friday was the play of Benedict Mathurin, who led the way with 23 points off the bench. But after so much buildup after two victories in Cleveland, the Pacers’ crowd — ready to party on a beautiful Friday night — was subdued in the final minutes of the game with the Cavs leading comfortably.
It was the first home loss of the playoffs for the Pacers.
“It wasn’t good,” McConnell said. “It didn’t feel good. We’ll make the necessary adjustments. To come this far and not lose a playoff game at home, I think this just speaks volumes to our crowd. They were great again tonight. I wish we could have got them a little more into it. But it just didn’t work out that way.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers struggle with full strength Cavs, zone defense in Game 3 loss
Continue reading...
