Cavaliers refused to defend in loss to the Pacers on Thursday night

Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff cannot be blamed for the sour look he had on his face at the postgame press conference. His Cleveland Cavaliers team was favored to win by four points on the road at Gainbridge Fieldhouse but couldn’t hang with a rival Indiana Pacers team that routinely gave up the interior and had its head coach tossed.

The second half was nightmarish for Donovan Mitchell. He cashed only four out of 16 shots after torching Indiana from the inside and out through the first 24 minutes. Offensively, he was Cleveland’s weakest link in the third quarter, but what was more problematic was his negligent defense.

With Cleveland in the 2-3 zone, Mitchell was guarding up top as Andrew Nembhard was backing down Darius Garland in the right low post. Spida turned his back on the ball, and at that moment, Buddy Hield recognized the breakdown and shifted from the left wing to the right corner. No Cavalier even bothered to close out on Hield’s accurate 24-foot jumper.

On another play, Michell closed out too recklessly after Nembhard caught a pass inside the right wing. He then spun past Mitchell, getting him on his back hip as he entered the lane and drew help from Evan Mobley. Subsequently, Nembhard passed to Aaron Nesmith in the left corner for a triple as Indiana cut the lead to three points.

With four minutes left in the third quarter, Spida was burned by Tyrese Haliburton on a transition triple on the left wing. He was trailing the ball handler but stuck between Haliburton in front and Hield standing in the close corner. The gravity of Haliburton’s fake pass to the left shifted Mitchell over to Hield for an unbothered tray.

It’s important to note, Spida wasn’t the only problem guarding the perimeter. The team was pantsed by Indiana, making 19 shots from 3-point range on 61.3% efficiency. The Pacers were two triples shy of tying their franchise record (21) set at the Oklahoma City Thunder on May 1, 2021. The outside protection was so abominable that only 48 of Indiana’s 135 points came in the paint.

As a team, the Cavaliers continually refused to defend in their loss to the Pacers on Thursday.

The Cavaliers started the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run. They even made their next seven out of 15 shots following the Pacers’ timeout. Jarrett Allen scored 13 points in the final period making five out of five of his attempts, but it wasn’t enough. Their issues staying in front of ball handlers, tracking shooters and not setting high enough pickup points against marksmen buried the Cavs in the fourth.

There was less than a minute left. Following an unnecessary Mitchell pull-up jumper that missed, Caris LeVert brainlessly fouled Nesmith under the basket, picking up his fifth, and sent him to the line for a pair.

With 36 seconds left, Cleveland still had a faint pulse as Garland walked up to the line for two free throws while down eight. This week, I witnessed the Dallas Mavericks come back from down nine with 26 seconds left against the New York Knicks to force overtime and win. The chances for the Cavs were low, but the task wasn’t impossible. Unimaginably, Garland bricked both, which helped lower Cleveland’s casket into the earth.

Granted, Garland’s thumb was clearly bothering him, and that his hand was wrapped after he came back in in the late fourth, and he could reportedly miss time, per a report from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com.

Nonetheless, Bickerstaff’s comments postgame reiterated that the Cavs are driven by their defense.

“We are a defensive first team. That’s the way we give ourselves a chance to be successful,” Bickerstaff said postgame, and one can view more from him below.

If any first-time observer tuned in last night, they would have been fooled otherwise. This latest blunder drops the Cavaliers to 6-10 on the road. With 44% of the season played outside of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse the early results are not encouraging.

Cleveland still has 25 away games left, but because this team can’t hold its composure on tour, the only manner in which they might go .500 the rest of the way on the road is through divine intervention.

Luckily for Cleveland, the next opponent on Saturday, the Chicago Bulls, have an 8-8 record in its building.