Despite barely sneaking into the playoffs as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, the Indiana Pacers have been right there in the final few minutes of the first two games of their first-round series against the defending champions, the Cleveland Cavaliers. But twice, the Cavaliers have managed to escape, and now hold a commanding 2-0 series lead.
One of the main problems the Pacers have had this series, besides not having LeBron James on their team, is their switches on defense, as our own Matt Moore pointed out Monday night after Game 2. Whether it's Jeff Teague getting stuck guarding LeBron James, or two Pacers going towards the ball, while leaving someone on the Cavs wide open, they've been burned numerous times.
The most notable example, was in Game 1, when LeBron was left all alone and capitalized with a showstopping alley-oop.
But there have been other examples, such as this possession, which resulted in a Kyrie Irving and-one.
In close playoff games, simple mistakes like that can be the difference between winning and losing, as we saw Monday night at the end of Game 2. After battling back from a 16-point deficit to start the fourth quarter, the Pacers had cut the Cavs' lead to just five points in the final minute, and needed a big stop to get the ball back.
With the Cavs taking the ball out on the baseline, however, the Pacers' problems with switches reared its ugly head once again, gifting Irving an easy layup, which sealed the game for Cleveland.
Here's how it happened.
The Cavs begin in a pretty basic stack formation, which everyone who has played organized basketball is probably familiar with.
As the play begins, the first action has Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love turn to set a double screen for Kyle Korver, who will make his way to the corner in hopes of finding an open 3-point attempt.
So far so good for the Pacers, as Korver is trailed well by Thad Young, and thus does not get the ball from Deron Williams. But as the secondary option begins to transpire, this is where the Pacers start to get into trouble. LeBron James turns to set a back screen for Irving to cut off of and go to the basket.
This is where Paul George, who is guarding LeBron, and Jeff Teague, who is tracking Irving, need to communicate. It's tough, it's really tough, because everything happens so fast, and the Cavs are an incredible offensive team. But given Cleveland's spacing, which leaves no Pacers under the basket, and the fact that Teague is trailing Irving, George needs to communicate a switch here.
Even if Teague is able to fight around LeBron's screen, he's still going to be behind Irving, giving the Cavs point guard inside position, and an opening to finish at the rim. But George has already decided he's going to stick with LeBron, and follows James out to where he sets the screen. When Teague then gets caught up on LeBron's screen, this leaves no one with Irving, who converts the simple finish to seal the game.
Lance Stephenson could have done a better job denying a pass right under the basket, but this is mostly on George and Teague, who once again failed to communicate on a switch.
Teams are going to miss shots, like C.J. Miles did at the end of Game 1, and mistakes are going to happen. But when the errors are of a mental variety, such as we've seen numerous times when the Pacers are faced with trying to navigate switches, those are more disappointing.
As the series moves back to Indiana for Game 3, the Pacers' hopes for getting back into the series will rest in large part on their ability to fix their communication problems regarding switches.
