G1 with the Pacers, Quicken Loans Arena was packed to capacity.
Although it was just the first round of the playoffs, Cleveland’s fans were already eager.
During the opening ceremony, the cheers were overwhelming.
However, on the other side, the Pacers were equally eager to test themselves.
Despite their overall strength having declined a bit compared to two years ago, they were clearly confident in themselves.
This state of mind was quickly reflected in the start of the game.
Ellis and George took turns using pick-and-rolls to attack the Cavalier’s interior, Jokic defended hard but also quickly paid his dues.
Five minutes into the game, he had already received his second personal foul and had to leave the court early.
The scale of refereeing in the playoffs changes a lot from the regular season, which can be a physical adjustment for the rookies.
Vogel clearly capitalized on this, breaking through the Cavaliers’ interior.
His tactics were effective, but the Pacers didn’t gain much of an advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Because frankly, Jokic was just the icing on the cake for the Cavaliers, not indispensable.
With Hansen, the Cavaliers were competitive in the playoffs.
Moreover, this season they also had the evolved Irving.
Irving was in top form in the first quarter, scoring 14 points, and the Cavaliers led the Pacers 30 to 23 at the end of the first quarter.
Into the second quarter, George for the Pacers began to erupt.
He started with a pull-up jump shot after breaking past Tucker, followed by a three-pointer after a pick-and-roll, scoring 5 points right off the bat.
Before his injury, George’s playing style was primarily off-ball and drive-to-layup, but after his return, his explosiveness declined, and his playing style incorporated more ball-handling and shooting.
Although that led to the lowest efficiency season of his career, it also gave him the ability to handle a large volume of ball possession.
This was very important for the Pacers because with David West leaving and Hibbert’s decline in performance, the Pacers’ low-post single-player tactics were almost abandoned, relying solely on perimeter play to drive the offense.
George had a good touch in the second quarter, scoring 13 points, and at halftime, the Cavaliers led 54 to 50.
Both sides played evenly in the first half, and Malone accordingly pulled out the small-ball lineup in the third quarter.
Jokic started off by hitting a three-pointer early in the quarter.
Foul trouble and fragmented playing time in the first half greatly affected his performance, but he clearly recovered a lot after the halftime adjustments.
Moreover, in this lineup, his presence was devastating for Hibbert.
Or rather, it was a live demonstration of how modern centers strangle traditional centers.
Hibbert going out to defend meant he could not recover, resulting in a direct collapse of the Pacers’ interior defense.
And if Hibbert contracted inside, Jokic would punish from beyond the three-point line.
Of course, that wasn’t the most lethal part, since Jokic’s three-point shooting rate overall was not yet stable.
The biggest threat came from defensive counterattacks, the quick play; when Hibbert couldn’t punish inside and his slow transition defense was simply disastrous against fast breaks.
Just 5 minutes into the third quarter, the Cavaliers had extended their lead to double digits.
Vogel was forced to call a timeout.
After the timeout, he made a substitution adjustment, bringing Myers Turner and Hill onto the floor.
The Pacers’ lineup became: George Hill, Monta Ellis, Tony Allen, George, Turner.
Although it was a reactive lineup, it matched up against the Cavaliers on the court.
Irving and Jokic ran pick-and-rolls, but did not succeed after trying twice in a row.
One was Irving’s shot disrupted by Turner, and another was Jokic’s layup after receiving the ball blocked by Turner.
Turner was the Pacers’ 11th pick this season, with an average of 10.3 points, 5.5 boards, and 1.4 blocks per game.
If not for being unable to move Hibbert at the trade deadline, he would have already become the Pacers’ starting center.
At 2.11 meters tall with a wingspan of 2.24 meters, he was not physically inferior to Jokic and, more importantly, his mobility was much faster than Hibbert’s.
Jokic might have won Rookie of the Year, but the Cavaliers weren’t the only ones with quality rookies.
The Cavaliers’ small-ball lineup did not have the anticipated overwhelming effect, leading 83 to 75 at the end of the third quarter.
While the lead was not insignificant, it was not enough to kill the game.
The cameras focused on Malone, who showed no sign of panic on his face, instead appearing supremely confident.
If they could annihilate the opposition with a run in the third quarter, that would have been best, but holding firm even without that meant the Cavaliers still had a significant advantage.
Because they had Hansen.
In the final quarter, Hansen began to increase his offensive aggression.
In the first play, Hansen backed down Allen and sank a turnaround fadeaway.
Compared to his time with the Grizzlies, due to plenty of playing time, Allen’s defense had evolved to an All-Defensive Team level.
But Hansen was all too familiar with his characteristics.
Allen’s defense was almost without weakness; his hands and feet were quick, and he was very good at working around screens.
Trying to handle him one-on-one or shooting over screens might not be effective.
However, his lack of height was a tangible disadvantage.
This led Hansen to choose to post up, a method that maximized his physical advantage.
Of course, Vogel wasn’t about to sit idly by.
After Hansen successively scored over Allen in one-on-one play, the Pacers began to tighten their defense on Hansen. Thıs content belongs to 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢•𝓷𝓮𝓽