2 min read • April 30, 2025
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The NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals is set to begin next week with the Indiana Pacers taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Both teams managed to get out of the first round, relatively unscathed and with some time before the next round ends, both teams should be fully healthy once the series commences.
The Cleveland Cavaliers defused the Miami Heat in a lopsided 4-0 sweep, with the clinching game being won by a 55pt margin. The other games were blowouts as well as as such, they were able to be extra cautious with their one injury to a starter. Darius Garland missed the final two games of the series with a toe injury, the severity of which is unknown at this time, but presumably, had the series been more tense, we might have seen more minutes from him. Donovan Mitchell also missed some time at the end of the regular season with an ankle injury, but that didn’t appear to affect him in this series, though his minutes were down, but that could have also been due to a relatively easy series.
The Indiana Pacers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, which might have seemed like a surprise to some, but the Bucks were facing injury issues on their end of the 5 game series. Giannis Antetokounmpo was dealing with a shoulder injury the last few weeks, but was able to play through it, but the bigger injury was to that of Damian Lillard who had already missed significant time with a diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis in his right calf, only to then rupture his Achilles in his left ankle, an injury that could cost him next season as well.
Indiana comes into the game relatively healthy with their only rotation player facing injury being Bennedict Mathurin. He’s currently dealing with an abdominal contusion and missed Game 4 of the series. He’s been a heavy rotation player off the bench averaging a little over 15 minutes per game and was able to return in Game 5 and record 3 steals.
With two healthy teams that have dominant, rim-protecting bigs, it should be a series heavy on outside shooting and highly entertaining. The Cavaliers should be favored, however, they have a 1-3 record on the season vs the Pacers, with all matchups featuring most of the regular starters. Tyrese Haliburton sat for the only Cavaliers win.
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