Pacers Have Major Disadvantage Entering Series vs Cavaliers

The Indiana Pacers and Cleveland Cavaliers are set to begin the second-round playoff series this weekend, with Game 1 coming from Cleveland. Indiana won't have home-court advantage in this series, so they will be looking to steal a road game to set the tone in the matchup.

The Pacers took three of four games from Cleveland during the regular season, but two of those contests came in the final week of the year. The Cavaliers had already clinched at that point, offering very little in terms of game preparation.

But in the two games that were actual matchups, the two teams split the series. This should give Indiana some confidence as they head into this series against the top-seeded Cavaliers.

However, entering this contest, the Cavaliers do have a massive advantage over the Pacers. This is the offensive attack that they use, and it could cause some real issues for the Pacers.

"This year's Cavaliers team is the 11th-highest scoring team in league history and the second-highest scoring team since 1984 with 121.9 points per game....They jumped from 20th in the league in scoring to first, from 24th in pace to 10th and from 16th in offensive rating to first, posting 121.0 points per 100 possessions."

Much like the offense that the Pacers had on their run to the Eastern Confernece Finals last season, Cleveland has put together a special season. The Cavaliers love to run up and down the court, taking the wind out of opponents in doing so.

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If the Pacers are going to win this series, they are going to need to rely heavily on the defense to step up massively. However, the Pacers' defense has been very inconsistent this season, potentially giving the Cavaliers an extra advantage that they can exploit.

Even with this, Indiana is entering this series very confident, and they believe that they can take down the Cavaliers. The Pacers are using the success from last postseason to help fuel themselves, and if they can put together a consistent game plan, Indiana may be able to shock the world once again.

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