Cleveland Cavaliers face a tough test against the Indiana Pacers in Indy

The Cleveland Cavaliers take their 13-game winning streak on the road tonight to face a formidable foe in the Indiana Pacers, who have won seven of their last ten.

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers are on quite a roll, as many fans know by now. This next matchup should be a tough one, though, as the Pacers are playing good basketball. Like Cleveland, Indiana’s roster had a considerable overhaul since last season, too, most notably in the backcourt. The new starting tandem of Darren Collison and Victor Oladipo has exceeded expectations thus far, as the two are first and second in plus-minus on the Pacers, per nba.com.

They torched the Cavs’ defense in the last meeting between these two squads in the beginning of the season, in which Indy took home the W in convincing fashion. This time around, Cleveland’s defense must be more effective against them.

I expect the Cavs to make Indy’s starting backcourt be more of passers, rather than primary shooters and slashers in pick-and-roll and isolation sets. Oladipo has been one of the biggest surprises this year, as he’s had career-highs in scoring, field-goal percentage, and three-point percentage, per Basketball-Reference.

In addition, Collison has been running the offense very well, as he is on pace to have a career year in terms of assists per game, while also having his career-lowest turnover percentage, per Basketball-Reference. Cleveland can’t allow Collison to dictate the game flow for long stretches on the road.

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The Cavs did not have Jose Calderon playing meaningful minutes last time against the speedy Pacers backcourt, and they need to help him with trapping at times early on with LeBron and Jae Crowder. J.R. Smith will have a tough assignment for long stretches with Oladipo, so his help will be unlikely.

Crowder will need to do a number on the Pacers’ Bojan Bogdanovic, who is also having a career year on the wing. In the last game in early November, he had 17 points, and will be a major spot-up threat off of dribble penetration.

If Crowder doesn’t put up scoring numbers, it would at least be helpful if he could keep the hot-shooting Bogdanovic in check. When he is knocking triples down, they are very difficult to put away. Along with backup point guard Corey Joseph and talented big Myles Turner, Bogdanovic is a major reason Indy is in the 86th percentile in team spot-up efficiency, per Synergy.

The bench will be key as well, as has been the case in every game in this young season. Dwyane Wade could have some favorable matchups in this one, against a smaller Joseph or Collison, and Kyle Korver will have his share of looks. Indiana is 20th in opponent three-pointers allowed per game, per teamrankings.com, and it seems LeBron always feeds him well against Indiana. Remember this explosion?

Austin Carr calls him the “Game Changer” for a reason, and with the King and others getting into the paint against Indy’s 28th-ranked paint defense, Korver should be able to knock down triples at will. LBJ’s playmaking is why Cleveland is the second-best spot-up team in the league right now, per nba.com.

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That will be the difference in this one, as the Cavs take home a narrow victory in a place they’ve had their struggles with on the road in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Defense could be optional tonight, but the Cavs’ offense should get it done when it matters most. Cleveland has the best offensive rating in clutch situations this season, per nba.com, and I think the supporting cast gets it done here, to couple with the Bron stepback triples.