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Jonathan Isaac: A Unicorn on the Defensive End (Part 2)

Cavaliers vs. Pacers Game 1 reaction

Wow! I did not see that coming. I mean who did? The Pacers storm Cleveland and dominate the Cavs in an 18 point blowout victory. This will be LeBron James' first loss in the first round since 2012. It has been six whole years since LeBron has lost a game in the first round. That is absolutely crazy and alarming. LeBron has been so good he has not lost a first-round game in six years. This game is a bit alarming. Here's why:

We all know the Cavs' well-documented struggles in the regular season. They believe they are good enough to simply flip a switch and run through the Eastern Conference. They did have a huge amount of uncertainty after how they started the season. The team looked divided and the Isaiah experiment just did not work out. On top of that their defense just was historically bad for a title contender. So they got a brand new team deadline day. While it seemed the team had grown closer together, and more youth in the team seemed as if the Cavs were back. The new team did have its share of struggles also. The Cavs finished the season ranked a whopping 29th in defense. No team has ever made the finals with that poor defense.

They can't guard anyone and that showed in game one.  On top of that Kevin Love, who is supposed to be the second star on this team, did not show up. 9 points on 8 shots will not win you a championship, and K. Love has to show up. If the Cavs continue to play like this forget losing to the Warriors in the finals, they won't be able to get past Indiana. If they do manage to squeak by Indy, forget beating teams like Toronto and Philly. Both teams looked poised and ready to roll.

The Cavs need to fix their effort, this is no longer a meaningless game in the regular season. Game two is do or die. The game is pivotal is they want to keep their championship aspirations.

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