{"id":63199,"date":"2018-04-16T07:47:58","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T07:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=63199"},"modified":"2018-04-16T07:47:58","modified_gmt":"2018-04-16T07:47:58","slug":"blue-collar-pacers-good-enough-take-lebron-james-cavaliers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/sports\/blue-collar-pacers-good-enough-take-lebron-james-cavaliers.html","title":{"rendered":"Blue-collar Pacers good enough to take down LeBron James, Cavaliers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blue-collar Pacers good enough to take down LeBron James, Cavaliers<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

This is their moment, and the Indiana Pacers are grabbing it in much in the same way they grabbed the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday: They have it by the neck, two hands squeezing, taking this moment and bending it to their will, making it their own. Just as they did to Cleveland in this 98-80 demolition at Quicken Loans Arena. Just as the Pacers have threatened to do to this first-round NBA playoff series, now that they have taken home-court advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Victor Oladipo outscored LeBron James, Nate McMillan outcoached Tyronn Lue and the Pacers in general thoroughly outworked the Cavaliers in Game 1. And now America has seen our little secret, these blue-collar Indiana Pacers, this team that was left for dead after the offseason Paul George trade and mostly ignored outside of Indiana since then.<\/span><\/p>\n

But since then? The Pacers won 48 games in the regular season. They beat the Golden State Warriors home and away, and did the same to the San Antonio Spurs. They beat the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference, Toronto, and won twice at No. 2-seeded Boston. And they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers three times in four games.<\/span><\/p>\n

Make that four out of five.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been playing like this all year,\u201d Oladipo was saying afterward, calm to the point of placidity at the postgame podium after scoring 32 points in 37 minutes. \u201cWe\u2019ve been playing hard at both ends all year, but it\u2019s been magnified. Now it\u2019s the playoffs and everyone\u2019s seeing it and it\u2019s kind of shocking to everybody, I guess you could say.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Not to the Pacers, whose postgame locker room was oddly quiet after the franchise\u2019s biggest postseason victory in four years. No jokes or laughter in here, no loud voices or even loud music, just a trace of gospel music coming from the shower area.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is how we expected to play,\u201d said Myles Turner, whose late-season slump gave way to 16 points, eight rebounds and one blocked shot, a wide-open Larry Nance Jr. lay-up that wasn\u2019t so open after all as Turner swatted it from behind, splattering it against the backboard with 4:06 left and the Cavaliers down 90-78 and thinking comeback.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Oladipo was scoring at the rim at the other end, then draining a 3-pointer, and now the Cavaliers are down 95-78 and the crowd is leaving. LeBron himself got a head start for the exits, walking off the court with time still on the clock after his surprisingly listless triple-double \u2013 24 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists \u2013 went for naught.<\/span><\/p>\n

And LeBron, to his credit, described exactly what happened afterward.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey came in and they dictated the tempo,\u201d he said of the Pacers. \u201cThey were more aggressive. They just played inspired basketball. They were more physical than us at the point of attack, (and) more precise in what they wanted to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is what the Pacers do. They outwork you, outhustle you. They \u2013 is this a word? \u2013 out-care you. If the Pacers were merely a hard-working team, they would be adorable. But they are not adorable. They are ferocious, because they combine that hunger with more talent than their roster would suggest. Until Oladipo made it a few months back, the Pacers had zero NBA All-Stars on their roster. But in Turner and Domantas Sabonis and Darren Collison and Thaddeus Young and Bojan Bogdanovic they have a bevy of high-quality NBA players. And in Oladipo, they have a star.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did the Cavaliers take the Pacers for granted? Let me tell what I saw. You be the judge. What you need to know for background is this: Before games, the media are allowed into NBA locker rooms for 30 minutes. I\u2019ve been inside NBA locker rooms for 15 years, usually in the playoffs, and every time \u2013 every single time \u2013 the largest TV screen in the room is playing video clips of the opposing team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Cavaliers weren\u2019t preparing for the Pacers by watching the Pacers. They were watching the Bucks-Celtics.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the visitors\u2019 locker room, a space so cramped that the 6-11 Turner had to go into the hall for his regular pregame agility work, the Pacers were watching a replay of one of the Cavaliers\u2019 most recent losses, a 132-130 defeat at Philadelphia on April 6. Also, McMillan was scribbling three defensive goals on the white easel in blue ink.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opposing field goal percentage under 45 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Opposing 3-point percentage under 35.<\/span><\/p>\n

PITP (points in the paint) under 40.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the game, someone \u2013 McMillan? \u2013 had used a green marker to check off all three goals, and supply the final tally: The Cavaliers shot 38.5 percent overall, 23.5 percent on 3-pointers, and scored 32 points in the paint.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pacers outworked the Cavs, out-hustled them and \u2013 yes indeed, this definitely needs to be a word \u2013 out-cared them. In the third quarter the Pacers led by 18 and there was a loose ball on the floor and LeBron James was bending over to look at it. Darren Collison was leaving his feet to dive on it, albeit knocking it out of bounds. Next time down the court, LeBron was dribbling in circles when Collison came in from the side and poked the ball away, drawing a foul as LeBron grabbed him in frustration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later, when the 6-8, 250-pound James roared to the rim for a dunk, it was the Pacers\u2019 superstar, Oladipo, who threw his body in the way and tried to draw a charging foul. The referees gave the 50-50 call to LeBron, but LeBron converted just one of the two foul shots.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was happening all game. It was Myles Turner opening the second half by defending Jeff Green at the rim, grabbing the rebound and throwing an outlet pass and sprinting the length of the floor, where he scored at the other rim. It was Bogdanovic defending LeBron and swiping at the ball so often that LeBron was swiping back petulantly at Bogdanovic. It was Lance Stephenson imposing his will on LeBron, and on this game, in ways only Lance can do.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was Cleveland slinking off the court at game\u2019s end, the arena mostly empty.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just weren\u2019t aggressive enough,\u201d said Lue. \u201cWe need to change our mindset.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a suggestion: Show the Cavaliers film of their first-round opponent. Let the Cavaliers see what it looks like when a team has solid talent and an overwhelming desire to win. Let the Cavaliers see what America saw on Sunday, shocking as it might have been.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let the Cavaliers see our little secret, these blue-collar Pacers, who care enough and are just good enough to kick your \u2026 well, you know. To win this series.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nba\/2018\/04\/15\/blue-collar-pacers-good-enough-take-down-lebron-james-cavaliers\/519423002\/<\/span><\/p>\n

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