- Game 2: Pacers at Cavaliers, 7 p.m. Monday, TNT
CLEVELAND — Coach Nate McMillan said goodbye to a throng of reporters and walked across the practice court inside Quicken Loans Arena. McMillan turned on a large TV in the corner of the roomand began a brief conversation with his three assistants.
One by one, the Indiana Pacers stopped shooting, stretching or talking. They walked toward the chairs, some with the seat higher than others, in front of the TV. All McMillan needed to do to start the team’s film session Sunday was press play. The image already on the screen was the Pacers playing defense in the first half of their one-point loss Saturday to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of their opening-round playoff series.
McMillan showed the Pacers how they allowed the Cavaliers to find an early offensive rhythm. Almost all of the Cavaliers’ highlights – their only true defensive one was trapping Paul George to force a pass to C.J. Miles, who missed a rushed midrange jumper at the buzzer – were of them scoring with ease. The Cavaliers scored 109 points, shot 53.8 percent and made 11 3-pointers.
In order to win Game 2 on Monday, McMillan stressed that it will come through defense.
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“We have to be more aggressive,” McMillan said before practice. “We have to be up closer to our guys and execute our rules in the pick-and-rolls. They run a ton of pick-and-rolls with multiple combinations. It’s important that we do our assignments and execute them. We never reallygot to that in the first half. We’ve got to play harder and be more physical in our defensive coverages.”
The Cavaliers scored 66 points in the first half because they created favorable mismatches with a screen set in the middle of the court. LeBron James scored on smaller guards such as Jeff Teague and Monta Ellis. Kevin Love did the same against Aaron Brooks. James sprinted around Kevin Seraphin for an easy layup.
When James or Kyrie Irving decided to drive after receiving a screen, the Pacers either didn’t send an additional defender or didn’t rotate well enough on the perimeter once a pass was made. Too often, the Pacers were too confused or too slow to contest the Cavaliers’ 3-pointers. Five Cavaliers not named James or Irving made a shot from behind the arc.
George, the Pacers’ best perimeter defender, said he and his teammates must rotate or scramble better on the perimeter.
“That’s really what makes them so tough,” George said of the Cavaliers’ shooting. “You have two guys that attack constantly and you have to load up to that. Then they’ve got guys around them that all they do is catch-and-shoot. That’s really what we’ve got to limit. If we can force LeBron and Kyrie to get their (points) as tough as possible and limit the rest of those guys, that’s really the game plan.”
Miles noted another place the Cavaliers scored: They attempted 27 foul shots.
“We put them on the line a lot, especially in the first half,” Miles said. “They’re going to make plays. They’ve got a lot of guys that do a lot of dynamic things. They’ve got four shooters on the floor at a time. We withstood the runs that we knew were going to happen and when the crowd got crazy. It’s just about us keeping them off the line a little bit more.”
McMillan agreed with George and Miles. Yet his biggest emphasis didn't relate to a statistic.
McMillan stressed the need to communicate better on defense.
“That needs to get better," McMillan responded bluntly. "No, no. I think that’s a big part of defending these guys because you’re going to have multiple combinations in your pick-and-rolls. TheNo.1 rule is you’ve got to communicate. Our communication was not good enough. That has to improve.”
The Pacers’ defense improved as the game progressed, as they surrendered fewer points in every subsequent quarter. Yet McMillan knows his players’ execution in the fourth quarter was not close to perfect.
After the Pacers took a two-point lead with 3:30 left, James created another mismatch by forcing Myles Turner to guard him on the perimeter. Once Turner tried to swat the ball away, James dribbled by him for a thunderous two-handed dunk.
Turner expects to be put in a similar defensive situation again in the series. He also expects to better challenge James.
“They take advantage of mismatches and they do it well,” Turner said. “We have to help each other and have each other’s backs as much as possible. LeBron obviously creates problems because he moves the ball so well. But we’re a very confident team and I know we can hang with these guys and beat them.”
McMillan appreciates the confidence and renewed belief. But McMillan said overtaking the Cavaliers takes toughness and defense.
“They’re tough to beat anyway,” he said. “We’ve got to establish our defense right from the start.”
Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter:@ByNateTaylor.
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Game 2: Pacers at Cavaliers, 7 p.m. Monday, TNT
