A Saturday night showdown between division rivals is taking place in Ohio. The Indiana Pacers are ready for game two, while the Cleveland Cavaliers will be on the tail end of a back-to-back. Cleveland went 3-1 against Indiana last year and has taken seven of the past eight meetings.

Setting the Pace Early

Indiana took home a win on Wednesday to begin their season, beating the Wizards 143-120 at home. New Pacer Bruce Brown led the team with 24 points, while All-Star Tyrese Haliburton had 11 assists to pair with his 20 points. Andrew Nembhard also finished with a double-double thanks to 10 assists off the bench. Myles Turner grabbed a team-high eight boards and blocked three shots.

Last year’s squad finished a few games short of the Eastern Conference’s final play-in spot, but they’re gunning for a better finish to the 2023-24 season. Improving upon a bottom-five defensive rating is step one, something that Wednesday didn’t add much hope for. Washington put up 120 points, attempted 29 free throws, and shot 37.5% from three (despite an 0/6 from Jordan Poole). Indiana needs to be better than that, even if a high tempo makes the numbers look worse. There were plenty of positives, such as defensive rebounding rate, and forcing a miss on 43.1% of shots at the rim. They also limited Washington’s shot selection to 25% from deep. The drawback is that the Pacers allowed 53.1% of Washington’s shots to come at the rim. Game one showed that Indiana still has work to do defensively.

Now, scoring 143 points in four quarters is always going to be a successful formula. The offense wasn’t nearly as explosive last year, but adding Obi Toppin, Bruce Brown, and a pace that will be threatening for the NBA’s highest will get Indiana on the board often. Their shooting was excellent on Wednesday, ending with a 52.3% field goal percentage, a 46.5% clip from three, and only missing one free throw. Indiana only turned the ball over on 10.8% of their possessions. Scoring won’t be a problem if the Pacers perform like that 81 more times.

Defending the Land

Now onto the Cavaliers, who finished fourth in the Eastern Conference last year on the back of the NBA’s best defense. This will be the second half of a back-to-back so fatigue may be a factor, but Cleveland gets stops routinely. Except, Wednesday’s season opener was a bit shaky, as they allowed 113 points to an underwhelming Nets offense. Brooklyn shot 50.0% from the field because 40.5% of their shots came at the rim. Rebounding (something that haunted them in the playoffs) was ugly, while they also put the Nets at the free-throw line 26 times. However, there were plenty of positives, such as forcing a turnover on 17.2% of Brooklyn’s possessions. Cleveland’s season opener wasn’t the defensive performance that people have come to expect for this team, but overall it was still solid. They’ll have two shots to dominate this weekend.

On Friday, the Cavs fell to Oklahoma City at home 108-105 as a 2.5-point favorite. Donovan Mitchell poured in 43 points in 42 minutes., but he had very little help. He shot 15 of 27 from the field, but the rest of the team shot just 23 of 65.

Offensively, adding Max Strus to the starting lineup has already paid dividends. He scored a team-high 27 points on 7-13 shooting from deep. Despite being a guard, he also led the Cavs with 12 boards. He was instrumental for a team that shot 39.5% from three and 46.8% from the floor. However, against OKC, Strus was held to eight points and shot 2-of-11 from 3-point land while the entire team shot 27%.

Cleveland only turned the ball over on 10.0% of their possessions. Now for the bad. The Cavs attempted 10 free throws during the 48-minute contest. Their offensive rebounding was also weak. This offseason’s addition meshing seamlessly with Donovan Mitchell is the greatest plus, but there are still flaws on this Cavs roster.