By the Numbers: 3 Things that Failed the Cavs Against Indiana

And because of these things, the Cavs endured their 4th consecutive loss

The Pacers outscored the Cavs, 32-22 in the 4th quarter to come out with the win.

The defending Eastern Conference champions reloaded themselves during the busy off-season, bringing in Dwayne Wade back alongside LeBron and getting Isaiah Thomas and a bunch of role players from Boston in a deal that sent Kyrie Irving to the Celtics. 

While those deals made the Cleveland Cavaliers, a much-stronger-on-paper "super team" which, according to their fans, can finally match-up well against the Golden State Warriors- should both teams meet again in the NBA Finals.

Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves and stay in the course of the regular season, for now. 

8 games into the new season, the Cavaliers are now 3-5, the same record that LeBron James has in his 8 trips to the Finals. 

After starting the season with a win over the Celtics which was followed by another victory against the Bucks, the Cavs went 1-5 since then, including 4 straight losses, the last one from the hands of the Indiana Pacers who are by the way, playing well despite being without a consistent center or a superstar after trading away long-time star player, Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder during the early months of the 2018-2018 off-season.

So what happened to the Cavs against the Pacers? Below are the numbers:

22% Shooting from Deep

Let's start with the worst one. To begin with, the Cavs are shooting 34% from long distance during the course of those 8 games- placing them tied for the 19th spot in that category. Against the Pacers however, LeBron James and company only made 7 OUT OF 31 ATTEMPTS from the 3-point line- that's 22% 3-point field goal shooting, folks. And yet they allowed Indiana to hit 16 of their 26 attempts from that area. You see the difference? It was a huge difference. 

Need any more? Here are the players who miserably struggled from outside:

• Kevin Love: 2 of 6
• LeBron James: 1 of 5
• JR Smith: 2 of 6
• Jae Crowder: 0 of 5
• Kyle Korver: 1 of 5

8 Turnovers for The King

While there's no doubt in everyone's mind, or at the very least, in the minds of his fans, that LeBron James is on a course to win another MVP this season. But, how can you even win a basketball game if you are careless with the ball? Despite his 33 points, 6 rebounds and 11 assists against the Pacers, one of the many things that haunted LeBron and eventually the Cavs, was his 8 turnovers- that's half of the turnovers Cavs had during the entire game. 

Lack of Intensity from the Starters

If your starters are struggling, then pray that your bench steps up. In this case, the bench of Tyronn Lue outscored the bench players of Indiana, 34-18. The problem was: the Cavs' starters failed to match the intensity and consistency of the Pacers' first five as the latter outscored the former, 106-73. Indiana could have beaten the Cavs by relying on their starters alone but fortunately, they had little help from off the bench. 

Conclusion

Maybe the Cavs are dealing with many things nowadays, LeBron's impending departure, Derrick Rose's injury, Dwayne Wade coming off the bench, possible chemistry issue. You name it. Maybe having too many superstars have finally caught on the Cavs. Maybe it's affecting their chemistry to begin with. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. If they don't sort things out by themselves, then they won't be making it back to the Finals this season. Just maybe.