Indiana Pacers: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Cavaliers

Indiana Pacers bench comprised of the starters stand to watch the closing seconds of the game. Mandatory Credit Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo (4) moves to the basket in the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers in game one of the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena.

Oladipo led the Pacers with 32 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Cavs got within seven in the fourth, but Oladipo, once a role player who blossomed into an All-Star in his first season with in, hit a big 3-pointer and Bojan Bogdanovic helped put Cleveland away with a 3 to make it 88-71. There wasn't much to talk about offensively for the Cavaliers in the contest: LeBron James continued his solid play as he posted a triple-double with 24 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.

The top-seeded Rockets had their hands full with the No. 8 Timberwolves on a night where Houston made just 10 of 37 3-pointers.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were completely outclassed by the Indiana Pacers and lost Game 1 by a 98-80 score.

Teams that lost Game 1 of a best-of-seven series at home have won the series just 48% of the time.

Game 2 of this first-round series is at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Cleveland.

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The Boston Celtics relied on a better overtime performance to win the first game of their showdown against the Milwaukee Bucks, 113-107. The starters will be motivated and will have great games the next time they play the Pacers. "They just played inspired basketball and they just took advantage of everything we wanted to try and do".

"On this team, we all know what Victor can do when he steps on the court", Thaddeus Young said. IN jumped to a 19 point lead after the opening quarter and kept Cleveland at arm's length as the Cavaliers didn't draw closer than seven the rest of the way.

Instead, they have an inexperienced mix of players as the likes of Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. made their playoff debuts.

J.R. Smith poured in 15 points off the Cavaliers' bench while Myles Turner had 16 points and Bojan Bogdanovic added 15 for Indiana. Over the remainder of the period, they managed to chip away at that lead by preventing the Pacers from hitting any of their field-goal attempts for a seven-minute span. We're fully aware of his team, and we realize it's not going to be easy, but that doesn't mean we're just going to come in here and just fold. Well, if we are hoping for LeBron to arrive in Los Angeles anytime soon, we should be hoping for an abnormally early exit for James and the Cavaliers. "They're going to pressure us".

"We expected them to come out and establish themselves in last night's game", McMillan said. I'm tempted to go with the Cavaliers to bounce back with an emphatic win, but I think this one will be close till the end so I'm taking the Pacers with the points again. As far as the blitz, I thought we did a good job of getting into him. "It's only Game 1". "I'm just glad we got this first win".

The "Lance vs. LeBron" storyline is an old favorite for both the local and national media. Middleton had 31 points, eight rebounds and six assists. I also think that coach Tyronn Lue will limit the amount of playing time that Jeff Green gets and increase the minutes of Tristan Thompson.

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