5 takeaways from the Cavs’ win over the Pacers on Friday

No. 3: Shooting blanks from the corners

The Cavs shot two-of-nine from the corners. All of these attempts came against the 2-3 zone Indiana had been utilizing.

Indiana was able to close out quickly on a handful of these plays to get a hand up in front of the shooter. On one play, Jarrett Allen handed it off to Donovan Mitchell in the right corner, and as soon as he gave it up, he sacrificed his body for a pick against Jalen Smith. Andrew Nembhard sniffed out the play while standing deep in the lane and dashed over to Spida for a clean contest.

The most unpardonable corner attempt that missed was Mobley’s off-balance shot against Aaron Nesmith.

No. 4: Bench outscored by 21 points

The Pacers’ reserves scored 55 points, and the Cavaliers’ bench players dropped 34 points. For the rivals, 40% of their bench production came from rookie Bennedict Mathurin, who recorded 22 points on seven-of-16 attempts in 29 minutes. Five of his seven field goals came in the lane off transition opportunities and shredding the defense in the halfcourt.

In the second unit for the Cavs, Osman converted 14 points on four-of-seven tries, which was a notable lift after he had a DNP game at Dallas on Wednesday, and Caris LeVert had 12 points. LeVert hit 36% of his field goals.