Injuries, bad shooting crush Cavs, who had no answer for Tyrese Haliburton or Andrew Nembhard

CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers mentioned all the best issues to the media in regards to the Indiana Pacers final week, from a repetitive, virtually droning on about how rapidly they rise up and down the courtroom, to insisting Tyrese Haliburton is something however “overrated.”

However Andrew Nembhard, properly, he didn’t come up. Perhaps that was the media’s fault.

Nembhard had each bit as a lot to do with the Cavs’ 121-112 residence loss to Indiana in Sport 1 of the Jap Convention semifinals as Haliburton did; for it’s Nembhard who leads the Pacers’ stunning stress on the perimeter that led to a lot of what went flawed for Cleveland on Sunday.

“I mean, he went 5-of-6 from 3,” the Cavs’ Donovan Mitchell mentioned of Nembhard. “He hit some big shots, but I mean, he’s been doing that. He did it last year against the Knicks, and he damn near (averaged) a triple-double against the Celtics. He’s tough. … Obviously, we know what he brings defensively, but offensively, when he’s able to give them that … it’s huge.

“It opens the lane for Tyrese, and he’s able to get in there and create.”

The numerical injury was such: Nembhard led all Pacers in scoring with 23 factors, making 7 of 10 total. As Mitchell talked about, Nembhard was 5-of-6 from 3. Haliburton, in the meantime, added 22 factors with (checks the stat sheet once more) 13 assists.

However the ache they inflicted on the Cavs runs deeper than the statistics recommend. Nembhard didn’t document a block or a steal, however he was noticeably urgent Cleveland’s ballhandlers and dealing onerous to hassle any perimeter shooter close to him.

Mitchell was additionally proper that Nembhard did certainly have an enormous playoffs final season, although the perfect he did towards the Knicks within the convention semis was shoot 3-of-4 from 3-point vary, and he was nowhere close to averaging a triple-double within the convention finals towards Boston (21 factors and seven.8 assists are shut, however 3.8 boards aren’t). Nembhard made himself some huge cash with the Pacers by shining like he did final 12 months within the playoffs, particularly with Haliburton out for a lot of the convention finals with a hamstring damage, going for 32 and 24 factors in slender losses.

Nembhard is 6-foot-5 and probably stays underrated as a result of he performs subsequent to Haliburton, who’s a two-time All-Star and an Olympian, and Pascal Siakam, one other All-Star, can be on the roster. However once you hear in regards to the “pace” at which Indiana performs, Nembhard has as a lot to do with it as the purpose guard Haliburton, as a result of he speeds you up when you will have the ball. He leads a protection that, regardless of its fame, forces robust photographs, which permits the Pacers to get out into the transition recreation they need to play.

Once you see the Cavs had been 9-of-38 from 3-point vary, and Indiana took too many open photographs en path to taking pictures 19-of-36 from deep, take into account Nembhard’s influence, and you start to grasp the place the lopsided 3s in favor of the Pacers began.

Nembhard didn’t register a steal or block, however he didn’t should. He was there, on the level of assault, moving into passing lanes and placing a hand within the face of Cleveland’s usually stable shooters.

Haliburton doesn’t simply rating and create; he additionally strikes the ball forward to teammates as quickly as he will get it. That is a part of the “pace” with which Indiana performs. It’s not simply fast photographs, it’s not simply working the ground, it’s all of these issues after which some, which begins on offense with Haliburton throwing it forward to a teammate who’s already made it to the frontcourt.

After which if the protection catches up, and the sport slows all the way down to the half courtroom, that’s when Haliburton makes use of screens and people open lanes Mitchell talked about to assault.

“I think it’s not only the pace of their speed, how fast they run, but they touch (the ball), they move around, and Tyrese is a master of just … he’s like a hockey distributor, just kind of banging it around, and that’s hard,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson mentioned. “They’re an excellent offensive team, and I think we struggled not only with their pace, but with their ball movement.”

The Athletic’s nameless NBA participant ballot, during which dozens of gamers had been requested a bunch of questions and granted anonymity so they may communicate freely, had Haliburton because the league’s most “overrated” participant. The Cavs vehemently refuted that concept within the run-up to Sunday’s Sport 1. There was no winking or smirking, both. They genuinely appeared to view Haliburton as considered one of basketball’s preeminent playmakers.

Additionally, to a person, the Cavs pointed to Indiana’s “pace” as a major concern heading into the collection. However being conscious and ready is just not the identical. Cleveland might have recognized what was coming in Sport 1, however couldn’t cease it.

“Yeah, I mean, you don’t practice at that pace,” Mitchell mentioned.

The extra you dig into it, this collection opener was a fairly dangerous one for the No. 1-seeded Cavs. Darius Garland missed his third consecutive playoff recreation with a sprained massive toe on his left foot. Atkinson continues to emphasize that it’s a day-to-day factor, an damage that has gone on for greater than per week. It’s not fairly into Jarrett Allen territory with the rib damage that price him most of final 12 months’s playoff run, regardless of being listed as “questionable” for each recreation, but it surely was fairly clear all week that Atkinson doubted Garland could be able to play.

De’Andre Hunter was knocked out of the sky on a transition dunk try by Bennedict Mathurin and dislocated a finger. Evan Mobley stepped on Myles Turner’s foot and rolled an ankle. Mitchell, who led the Cavs with 33 factors, was hobbling round as if he suffered a leg damage.

Cleveland felt it made some halftime changes that helped (down by 12 within the third quarter, the Cavs regained the lead a number of instances earlier than a brutal remaining three minutes price them the sport), however total, the opinion shared by gamers was that poor offense led to worse protection.

Atkinson began Sam Merrill once more in Garland’s place, however neither Merrill, Isaac Okoro nor Ty Jerome might fairly match Nembhard’s effectiveness and influence.

A wholesome Garland offers the Cavs two dynamic scoring threats on the guard place. Maybe getting the ball within the gap extra usually and flattening extra 3s takes away Nembhard’s possibilities to shoot 70 p.c from the sphere like he did Sunday. However it’s a safer wager that there’s something schematically that Cleveland must do to account for him, whether or not or not Garland performs Sport 2. Garland is just 6-1 (and Mitchell is 6-3), and only some groups in NBA historical past have gained a championship with two small beginning guards.

What occurred in Sport 1 doesn’t recommend the Cavs will fail of their pursuit, but it surely calls for a extra balanced and forceful efficiency from their guards.

As a result of Haliburton and Nembhard crushed them on Sunday.

(Prime photograph of Andrew Nembhard: Jason Miller / Getty Pictures)