Indiana Pacers Ability To Be Themselves Will Define Series Vs Cleveland Cavaliers

INDIANAPOLIS – The top offense in the 2025 NBA playoffs so far belongs to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The second best offense in the postseason has been the Indiana Pacers. Sunday night, the two teams will begin a best-of-seven set that is fascinating thanks to the two teams often using similar methods to win – score often, then get enough stops to come out on top.

In the regular season, that led to the Pacers having the ninth-best offense and 14th best defense. Cleveland, meanwhile, finished first and eighth in those categories, respectively. Indiana’s incredibly slow start makes their net rating(s) somewhat misleading, but the Cavaliers numbers accurately show what they are – a terrific team that is hard to stop.

The Pacers will do everything they can to topple them in round two, and the story of the series may be the specific way they try to earn four wins. Will the blue and gold opt for defensive-focused lineups and try to slow down the Cavs? Or will they opt to put their best offensive groups and the floor and hope to outscore the East’s top seed? Both strategies have merit, and Indiana is confident despite the challenge ahead of them.

“They’re the number one team. Offensively, defensively, they do a good job. They have big bodies, they have really good guards, and they have a good bench,” Pacers forward Pascal Siakam said of the upcoming series against the Cavaliers. “They’re definitely a complete team. So it’s definitely a challenge.”

What makes the Cavaliers a tough test for the Pacers?

Cleveland makes everything look simple. Their top backcourt stars, Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, were both top 45 in scoring this season. They each ranked in the top 38 in assists per game. Both of them can get into the paint, hit jump shots, and keep the ball moving. They are an additive pair, especially on offense, and keep Cleveland humming.

In the frontcourt, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen form one of the best defensive duos in the league. Mobley just won Defensive Player Of The Year while Allen is a great rebounder (9.7 per game) and rim protector. They anchor a top-1o defense while combining to score 32 points per game and complement both Mitchell and Garland well.

Those four players form a terrific base of an elite team. Add in excellent role players – some of whom Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle has gushed about this week – like De’Andre Hunter, Max Strus, Dean Wade, Isaac Okoro, Sam Merrill, and Ty Jerome, and an elite squad is formed. That’s what the Cavs are – they won 64 games and are the top seed in the East for a reason.

“They’re the best team in the East for a reason. They’ve got a lot of depth. They shoot the ball well, defend at a high level, rebound at a high level. They’ve got everything,” Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton said of Cleveland. “They’re a really good team… It’s an exciting time. We’re excited to compete against those guys.”

That’s the group the Pacers are tasked with defeating. It will be difficult. But it isn’t impossible, and the blue and gold have shown that they aren’t easy to vanquish either across the last two years of postseason play. They, too, are a high-powered offense and a solid defense.

That makeup got them past the Milwaukee Bucks in round one. Now, they have a stronger opponent and will have to decide what to lean on. Indiana’s offense won them their first-round series as they generated high quality shots on almost every possession. Focusing on their offense may be the best way to keep up with the Cavs.

Yet there is a reality where going all-in on scoring isn’t enough for the Pacers to keep up with Cleveland. Last year, the Pacers played the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals and fell 4-0 despite some outings with high point totals. Indiana couldn’t get enough stops against the NBA’s top offense in 2024 – though to their credit, almost nobody could.

Haliburton got hurt against Boston, and that makes it hard to analyze those games. But the Pacers needed more defensive pressure in that best-of-seven set and didn’t generate it. Is it possible that, after a year of defensive improvement, they can rely somewhat on the less glamorous end of the floor against another high-octane offense?

Starting guard Andrew Nembhard grew as a perimeter defender this season and just did well against Damian Lillad (pre-injury) in the first round. On the wing, Aaron Nesmith has continued his ascent as a defensive weapon this year. Those two will take on the Mitchell and Garland assignments and will need to be as disruptive as possible.

Myles Turner has always been a rock-solid defender near the rim, though he will have his hands full with Allen. Ben Sheppard should have utility in this series as a defensive-focused wing. Bennedict Mathurin has always dreamed of being an elite two-way player, and this series will be a crucial time for it.

Altogether, the Pacers do have defensive talent – and they are fortunate in that their best defenders play important positions when it comes to matching up with the Cavs. But that hasn’t mattered for Cleveland’s opponents this season. The 64-win team had an elite offensive rating with most rotation combinations on the floor, they’re hard to stop regardless of who is opposite them.

“They’re deep. They’ve done a great job all regular season of being one of the best offenses, one of the best defenses,” Nembhard said of his team’s first-round opponent. “They shoot the three really well. They spread you out, they play together.”

As the Pacers consider their options when it comes to tipping toward offense or defense, they should come back to their identity. It is significant for Indiana that they have become a good-enough group on the defensive end, but they are known for their ability to generate open field goal attempts and put the ball in the net. They were fourth in the NBA this season in effective field goal percentage. The Pacers take, and make, high-quality shots.

As the Pacers prepared for the postseason, they made it clear that while they were focusing on their opponents, they had a stronger focus on themselves. Being able to execute their style in the playoffs felt like a must. As they move to the second round, that thinking becomes more important than ever. While it would be understandable for Indiana to trust their improved defense and shift some of their lineup and strategy decisions toward slowing the Cavs down, the team needs their offense to be exceptional to get past Cleveland. Scoring often, and thus being able to set their defense, could actually be the best way to stop the Cavaliers.

“They have a great roster,” Carlisle said of the Cavs. “They’ve really become a veteran team… (Cavs head coach) Kenny Atkinson has done a great job.”

The current Indiana core has three playoff series wins in the last two years, and they won twice in 2024 as the higher seed. They are capable of pulling off upsets. But they have to be themselves and be a consistently-threatening offense to reach the 2025 Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs are possibly their toughest test yet, and if the Pacers can’t flash their typical identity, they’ll be searching for answers all series long.