Report: Cavs were internally ‘wary’ of Pacers for ‘weeks’ dating back to regular season

The Cleveland Cavaliers were the most dominant team in the Eastern Conference during the NBA regular season, but they’re now facing a series deficit in the 2025 NBA Playoffs for the first time.

The Indiana Pacers nipped the Cavs in Game 1 of their second-round series, giving Indiana a 1-0 lead and shifting home-court advantage in favor of the Pacers for now.

While there is still plenty of time for Cleveland to recover, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst explained that the Cavs were “wary” of a potential playoff matchup against the Pacers before it even came to fruition.

“Internally, the Cavs were wary of the Pacers for weeks,” Windhorst said. “And the Pacers made that late-season — ’cause remember, there was a while there where the [Detroit] Pistons, Pacers and [Milwaukee] Bucks were all sort of tied — and the Pacers made that late-season push. They finished 14-4 to get the four-seed.

“When that was…becoming apparent, the Cavs were giving them the side-eye because that’s a quasi-bad matchup for the Cavs. I mean, they won 64 games. There isn’t a team that they feel like they’re a ‘bad matchup’ against, but it’s a more uncomfortable matchup.”

The Pacers earned a 121-112 win in Game 1 in Cleveland behind a balanced scoring attack. Each member of Indiana’s starting five scored at least 13 points, and the squad also got 29 points from its bench.

One major key was 3-point shooting, as the Pacers were worlds above the Cavs in that category on Sunday. Indiana shot 52.8 percent from deep in the game while Cleveland shot just 23.7 percent from long range.

The Cavs were also without star point guard Darius Garland in the matchup due to an injury that the team would likely be managing differently if it were still the regular season. But since it’s the playoffs, Garland could be on the floor in Game 2, and he said Sunday that he’s confident he will be.

Last season, the Pacers made a surprise trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, so they have some experience when it comes to assembling a playoff run. If they were to upset the Cavs in this series, they’d be headed to the conference finals for a second consecutive year.

Game 2 is set for Tuesday, and there will be some pressure on Cleveland to take care of business in that one since it will be another home game. As it stands, the Cavs will already need to win at least one game on the road in this series in order to advance, and they certainly don’t want to put themselves in a bigger hole with a Game 2 loss.