Losing Game 1 of the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs is not how the Cleveland Cavaliers envisioned their title run beginning.
The Cleveland Cavaliers‘ playoff run got off to a rough start on Sunday afternoon, as the team lost Game 1 of its first round series against the Indiana Pacers by a final score of 98-80.
The young and hungry Pacers blitzed the Cavs from the jump, building a 19-point lead at the end of the first quarter, a number that went down to just 17 by the end of the second quarter.
Cleveland stormed back to begin the second half, outscoring the Pacers 27-18 in the third and cutting the lead to single digits before Indiana would ultimately close the deal in the fourth.
LeBron James was unusually quiet for a playoff game, scoring only 24 points on 7-of-17 shooting in 43 minutes of action, while the next closest scorer was J.R. Smith, who chipped in 15 points off the bench.
While this is by no means a death sentence for the Cavaliers, with all the questions surrounding their roster, a blowout loss in the opening playoff game is not a good way to silence the critics.
Cleveland is going to have to make some adjustments, and those tweaks should be based off these three takeaways from Game 1.