Pacers Reportedly Had Cavaliers Scared Ahead of Playoff Matchup

People were sleeping on the Indiana Pacers heading into this Eastern Conference Semifinals matchup versus the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavs are coming off a stellar 64-win regular season. They might be the most balanced team top-to-bottom in the league. Not only does Cleveland have a very gifted core centered around Evan Mobley, Donovan Mitchell, and Darius Garland, but they are also being led by the newly minted 2024-25 NBA Coach of the Year in Kenny Atkinson.

Despite all of the facts, the Cavaliers came up woefully short at home in Game 1 — losing by a score of 121-112.

Windhorst released the latest episode of his podcast on Brian Windhorst & The Big Game Collective. At the 48:30 mark, he dropped a very interesting nugget as it pertained to the Cavs and how they felt about going into this matchup with the Pacers. Being the top seed in the East, one would naturally think that Cleveland would be full of confidence. This doesn't appear to fully be the case.

"Internally, the Cavs were wary of the Pacers for weeks," said Windhorst. "Because that's a quasi-bad matchup for the Cavs."

Pacers at Cavs: Game 1

taking one on the road 😤 pic.twitter.com/49aq8evS8F
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 6, 2025

This was an interesting reveal by Windhorst — a guy who's as dialed into the NBA as anyone. For as good as Cleveland has been all year long, it's fascinating to hear that the Pacers were purportedly deemed as a scary matchup for Atkinson's ballclub.

Why would this be the case? For one, the Pacers have three guards (Andrew Nembhard, Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin) that will force the issue with Mitchell and Garland. By forcing the issue, it means making those two guard with credible effort.

This is a challenge given the fact Garland missed Game 1 with a bad toe. Even if he's back for Game 2, he won't be at 100 percent — and it'll likely mean the high-flying Pacers will push the tempo even more than they already do. With respects to Max Strus and Sam Merrill, neither are elite on-ball defenders.

Guarding Mitchell obviously presents its own set of challenges. Indiana has a tough, athletic player in Aaron Nesmith willing to forgo scoring in favor of making life difficult for Mitchell.

The same can be said up front. While Mobley and Jarrett Allen are a very good duo, so are Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner. Turner's ability to stretch the floor pulls one of Mobley or Allen away from the basket, thus limiting their respective shot blocking prowess. Siakam is a proven scorer with a plethora of moves to choose from. He's also a veteran with plenty of postseason experience relative to Mobley and Allen.

With Mobley (ankle) and DeAndre Hunter (thumb) getting nicked up in Game 1, it'll be incumbent upon Mitchell to play an excellent game for this series to be split 1-1 before heading off to Indianapolis. If Garland can't go, the Cavs will need some major production from unheralded players such as Strus, Merrill, and Ty Jerome.

Going down 0-2 and then having to go on the road could turn disastrous for the Cavs.

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For more news and notes on the Indiana Pacers, head on over to Indiana Pacers on SI.