Cavaliers at Pacers
The Cleveland Cavaliers want to be taken seriously in the Eastern Conference, and that starts with beating good teams on the road. The Cavaliers will attempt to do just that when they visit the Indiana Pacers on Saturday. The Pacers will be looking to move to 3-0 after easing their way into the season with wins over Orlando and New Orleans.
Cleveland seemed to make a statement with a home win over the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday but fallowed that up by falling flat at Charlotte in a 90-84 setback. Cavaliers coach Mike Brown was not impressed by his team’s attention to detail. “Our mental approach, from the beginning, has to be better,” Brown told reporters. “Right now it’s not good, especially to start the game, and we’re getting too many ‘My bads’ ” Indiana likes to force those types of mistakes and held the Magic and Pelicans to an average of 88.5 points in the first two games.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Cleveland), FSN Indiana
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (1-1): Cleveland gets a quick turnaround to wipe away the sting of Friday’s loss at Charlotte, in which the team shot 38.1 percent from the field. The Cavaliers had four players score at least 15 points but got only 10 points total out of the other seven players that got time on Friday. “With our first group, we’re still trying to find each other’s rhythm,” Kyrie Irving said. “We’ve got guys that can make plays, we just have to find our rhythm.” Irving (15.5 points and eight assists) and Tristan Thompson (19.5 points and 10 rebounds) have been the most consistent so far.
ABOUT THE PACERS (2-0): Indiana did not dominate in either of its first two games but controlled the pace in the fourth quarter and found its way to a pair of wins. “We’ve got guys in this locker room that have confidence that’s mile-high, particularly late in the game,” forward David West said. “We believe whoever’s got the ball is going to make the right play.” More often than not it’s been Paul George making that play, and the 23-year-old star is averaging 28 points despite playing through a jammed finger.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Pacers took all four meetings last season by an average of 12.8 points and have won six straight in the series.
2. Cleveland C Andrew Bynum (knees) was used sparingly in the first two games and could stick to the bench Saturday on the second night of a back-to-back.
3. Indiana G George Hill (hip) sat out practice on Friday and is questionable.