The Indiana Pacers carried over their effort from the regular season and it led to a wire-to-wire victory in Game 1 against the heavily favored Cleveland Cavaliers. Before tipoff, the “but” in “the Pacers went 3-1 against Cleveland in the regular season, but all games came before the trade deadline” did all the lifting in explaining away any advantage the Pacers might have had.
While that was true on Indiana’s side, it showed to be true on Cleveland’s side as well. The Cavs looked ill-prepared to handle a team bringing the fight to them and before the Cavs could get acclimated to the postseason, they found themselves on the wrong end of a 14-0 run, the Pacers leading 18-4 out of the gate.