Although they seemed like the gods of the NBA, the Cleveland Cavaliers looked human against the Indiana Pacers for the first time this season. In their 108-93 loss to the Pacers, the Cavs struggled to find consistency on offense, seeing shots that would typically connect fall to the wayside. But when Indiana dialed up the pressure in the third quarter, guarding Cleveland from baseline to baseline, the bottom gave out, and the Cavs suffered a rare loss.

“We did not handle their pressure well,” Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson said. “And that bleeds into your defense, right? You start turning it over, you’re not taking good shots, and they’re an elite transition team. … Their pressure was a big part of their success tonight.”

In the third quarter, the Cavaliers committed seven turnovers, with Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland combining three of those miscues. Those turnovers resulted in six easy points for Indiana and a total of 12 points off turnovers during that quarter.

“We kind of, how do you say, deserved it,” Atkinson admitted following the 108-93 loss to the surging Indiana Pacers. “We had two days off, two days to prepare for this game. We didn’t do a great job from a coaching standpoint.”

As a result, the Cavs' 15-point lead quickly turned into a six-point deficit by the end of the quarter, and the blame for this collapse rests solely on Cleveland's shoulders. Indiana's pressure had thrown off their offensive flow and allowed the Pacers to dictate the closing moments of the matchup.

“We didn’t play to our standards,” Garland said. “The first half was pretty good. The second half kind of got away from our principles. They dictated the second half.

How the Cavs can prevent another full-court squeeze in their next matchup with the Pacers

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Darius Garland (10) drives to the basket against Indiana Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin (00) during the first half at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Despite Indiana's second-half pressure dictating the game's flow, Cleveland doesn't appear to be pressed. Instead, the Cavs see it as a chance to get revenge against the Pacers, with both teams set to face each other again.

“It happens,” Garland said. “[The season is] super long. So, some days, you have one of those games. I mean, we went an entire month and haven’t lost, so I mean, we were due for one. I just didn’t know when it was going to come. But tonight is the night. Yeah, we play them again on Tuesday. They got to come see us again.”

While Indiana's defensive pressure perplexed the Cavs during the game, they're already aware of what adjustments need to be made to prevent it from recurring. According to Garland, if Indiana continues to apply full-court pressure, Cleveland's bigs must set screens to peel off defenders, and secondary ball-handlers must be on standby.

While it might seem like a simple enough concept, now that the Cavs understand the Pacers' defensive pressure, it can be easier to adapt to it on the fly with their own counteraction. How Cleveland lost to Indiana has become a shock to the system. It can become an advantage, even at 33-5, and empower the Cavs to continue dominating the NBA.

“We missed open [shots], and then we didn’t guard,” Mitchell said. “So it compounds and compounds. And so that’s a tough one, but you know, if we don’t make shots, we have to be able to guard and didn’t do that.”