NBA Matchups: May 13

CLE @ IND | DEN @ OKC

Cleveland Cavaliers at Indiana Pacers

Team Totals: Pacers 111.5, Cavs 119

Injury Report: Donovan Mitchell (Q, ankle)

Pacers projected starters: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner

Cavs projected starters: Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen

Carlisle quotes: Said he expects the Cavs to throw a haymaker on Tuesday, said he had a lot of questions about the Mathurin ejection and they just have to move forward from it, said “we had better attitude about attacking the zone,” said the rebounding also helped against the Cleveland zone, said the Cavs getting to the line was a problem for them, said Obi and Siakam have been great for them because they can space the floor with some decent size.

Atkinson quotes: Said Mitchell will get an MRI, said the Pacers dominated them in every facet of the game, said he’s not sure how Mitchell hurt his ankle, said the Pacers were more physical and they couldn’t get into a rhythm on offense (because of the press).

Stats and Notes:

*The first half on Sunday was one of the most lopsided halves of basically ever with the Pacers getting to a playoff-record +41 in the first half. They had 25 assists to the Cavs’ three, as their offense came just way too easy. Plus, the Pacers putting the press on the Cavs took them out of rhythm with the Cavs committing 15 turnovers in the first half to just eight FGMs. It’s just all bad for the Cavs and all good for the Pacers. Cleveland has nothing going in transition and they had just 5.3% of their possessions in transition on Sunday. For the Pacers, they are just crushing in the halfcourt, and that’s been a trend all postseason. Indy passed the Cavs for the best halfcourt O in the postseason partly because of their insane shotmaking. They’re holding steady at a 66.3 eFG% on their jumpers this postseason, and they were able to get some interior scoring against the Cleveland zone. The Pacers were able to use their bigs in actions with screening and rebounding to take that off the table for the Cavs. Of course, the injuries are going to be another problem for the Cavs.

*Tyrese Haliburton just hasn’t been able to get it going on the offensive side. The Cavs have been taking him out of the offense with Max Strus face-guarding him, and the Pacers are not getting much in transition to up his chances for dimes and layups. Haliburton had just 4.1 minutes of touch time on Sunday, and he’s lost some handling to Andrew Nembhard. Haliburton did get some added passing with 12 potential assists in his limited playing time, but the Cavs are clearly trying to limit Haliburton’s impact overall.