Preview capsule on the Cleveland-Indiana Eastern Conference semifinal series that starts Sunday:
No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers (64-18, 4-0) vs. No. 4 Indiana Pacers (50-32, 4-1)
Season series: Pacers, 3-1.
Schedule: Game 1 at Cleveland, Sunday; Game 2 at Cleveland, Tuesday; Game 3 at Indiana, Friday; Game 4 at Indiana, May 11; Game 5 at Cleveland, May 13 (if necessary); Game 6 at Indiana, May 15 (if necessary); Game 7 at Cleveland, May 18 (if necessary).
How they got here: Seeding held form in Round 1 for these two teams, and a Cavaliers team that rolled past eighth-seeded Miami — the most one-sided series in NBA playoff history, with Cleveland sweeping the four games by a combined 122 points — now gets an Indiana team that ousted fifth-seeded Milwaukee for a second consecutive season. The Pacers won that series 4-1, rallying from seven points down in the final 40 seconds of overtime in the clinching Game 5.
Story line: Expect points and lots of them. Cleveland led the NBA this season at 121.9 points per game, Indiana was seventh at 117.4 points per game. The Cavs were second in the NBA in field-goal percentage (.491) while the Pacers were third (.488). And part of the reason why both teams had such prolific offenses was because they took care of the ball — the clubs both averaged only 13.2 turnovers per game this season, tied for third fewest in the NBA.
Key matchup: Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell vs. Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton. The leaders of their teams, the guys who will have the ball the most, the ones who will be tasked with making the most important decisions at the game's biggest times. And more good news: Both are feeling as well as they could physically at this point.
X-factors: Cleveland's Max Strus and Indiana's T.J. McConnell. Strus is invaluable to the Cavs as a shooter and a defender, plus he's one of two Cleveland players who has started NBA Finals games (Tristan Thompson is the other). McConnell can be electric coming off the bench, as proven most recently by his 18-point, 17-minute outburst in the clincher over Milwaukee.
Prediction: Cavaliers in 7.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
