Indiana Pacers: 3 takeaways from Game 1 vs. Cavaliers

1. Oladipo on a mission

For one of the few times in his Eastern Conference playoff life, LeBron James wasn’t the most unstoppable force on the floor.

At this point, it seems like Victor Oladipo won’t rest until we all stop calling it “the Paul George trade” and instead name it after the guy who has single-handedly turned the Pacers franchise around.

Vic was unrelenting on Sunday. He made it a point to prove that his career high 37.1 percent shooting from 3-point range was no fluke, putting it up nine times from long range and making six. None was bigger than this fourth quarter shot which came just as the Cavs were starting to turn the momentum:

That wasn’t all. Cleveland also couldn’t stop Oladipo on the pick-and-roll, as he repeatedly used his John Wall-ish level speed to get where he wanted to go on the court:

‘Dipo also got to the foul line eight times and had four dimes to help facilitate the offense, figuring out how to efficiently pass out of the double coverage that the Cavs repeatedly threw at him during the game.

He won’t be able to keep up this level of shooting, but he shouldn’t need to as several of his teammates had off shooting nights. Bojan Bogdanovic couldn’t find the ocean from the beach, going 5-for-17 from the field and 1-for-6 from deep. Darren Collison, the league’s most efficient 3-point shooter this season, was just 1-for-4 from behind the arc and 2-for-9 overall.

Next: Power ranking all 16 teams in the 2018 NBA Playoffs

Both figure to improve as the series goes along.