Pacers offense continues to struggle from 3 as Caris LeVert leads Cavs to win

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Pacers blew a 15-point first half lead and their late-game comeback fell short in a 108-103 loss to injury-riddled Cleveland on Monday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

The Pacers fell to 38-31 and slid into seventh place in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers improved to 43-25 and sit comfortably in third place in the East.

Here are four observations.

Caris LeVert causes Pacers problems again

Caris LeVert has been trouble for the Pacers since Indiana traded him in February of 2022 and he was again on Monday. After a 31-point effort against the Pacers earlier this season in Cleveland, he gave the Cavaliers necessary scoring with Donovan Mitchell out, finishing with 23 points on 7 of 15 shooting to go with 11 assists. His fadeaway over Andrew Nembhard with 1:41 to go put the Cavs up 105-103 and the Pacers were never able to recover from that bucket.

LeVert and Darius Garland both proved tough covers and demanded the Pacers' attention and in some cases Indiana handled that well. Pacers guard Andrew Nembhard did excellent work on Garland in particular and held him to 13 points on 5 of 18 shooting including 1 of 9 from the 3-point arc. However, the Pacers frequently lost cutters, which led to center Jarrett Allen posting 23 points on 8 of 12 shooting and the Cavaliers posting 44 points in the paint on a night when the Pacers mostly defended well. Forward Isaac Okoro got a wide open look at the rim thanks to a cut with 26 seconds to play that essentially put the game away.

"Their guards are dynamic," Pacers backup point guard T.J. McConnell said. "Garland's really good. Caris is certainly really good. Just them getting downhill. Us having to rotate, we were just a little late on finding the cutters. I thought we did a good job here and there, but when they needed a bucket, they certainly got timely buckets."

The Pacers' 3s still aren't falling

After a 6-30 shooting night in Saturday night's loss to Brooklyn, the Pacers started off every bit as cold from outside the arc.

In Monday's first half, the Pacers made just four of their 18 3-point attempts and their starters were a combined 0 of 8 from 3-point range. That included All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who missed all three of his attempts. Center Jalen Smith hit two and rookie guard Ben Sheppard and forward Obi Toppin hit one each off the bench as the reserves were a combined 4 of 10 from beyond the arc.

It got a little better in the second half but not much. Haliburton actually hit one and the Pacers made 5 of 20 from 3 in the second half but finished 9 of 38 from beyond the arc for the game.

"They're just really not falling right now," McConnell said. "No real explanation for it. We continue to play the way we do. We'll continue to take the shots. They'll fall. It's an up and down thing from 3. The numbers will even themselves out."

Haliburton in particular, however has not had very many ups lately when it's come to outside shooting. He still managed 14 points and 12 assists on Monday, but he was 1 of 9 from 3-point range. He was also 1 of 9 on Saturday against Brooklyn and he's shooting 21.3% from 3-point range since the All-Star break. In his last nine games he's made just 11 of 65 3-pointers -- a brutal 16.9%. Before the All-Star break, he was shooting 40% from beyond the arc.

"I'm just trying to figure it out right now," Haliburton said. "Obviously it's frustrating. I never went through a slump like this in my life. It's all part of it, figuring it out. This (expletive) sucks. Everybody's got the (expletive) answer. But it's about me figuring this (expletive) out. I just have to be better. And I will be better moving forward."

Pacers feed Pascal Siakam, which sort of works

After his 28-point effort in the Pacers' win over the Nets on Saturday, trade-deadline acquisition Pascal Siakam said he thinks his teammates are still learning how reliable he can be when the Pacers need a bucket around the paint.

The Pacers seemed to heed his advice some on Monday as Siakam made nine field goals on 18 attempts for 19 points with all nine of those buckets coming in the paint and most of those coming in the restricted area within 5 feet of the bucket. He hasn't scored fewer than 12 points with the Pacers in a game yet and he's scored at least 17 points in each of his last six games. However, the Pacers struggled to feed Siakam toward the game's end and didn't come up with the necessary answers for Cleveland late in the game.

T.J. McConnell keeps Pacers in the game

Though the Pacers used just four subs in Monday's game, their bench helped drag them through it and as has been the case many times this year, veteran backup point guard T.J. McConnell was the driving force for the bench.

McConnell attacked the rim with abandon as per usual with 14 points on 7 of 11 shooting and also managed four assists, three rebounds and two steals in 21 minutes. He helped the Pacers provide resistance on Cleveland guards Darius Garland and Caris LeVert and got the Pacers buckets at the low point of their various lulls. The Pacers' bench outscored Cleveland's 40-27, but it wasn't enough.

Pacers vs. Cavaliers box score

CLEVELAND (108): Niang 5-8 0-0 13, Okoro 4-7 0-0 9, Allen 8-12 7-8 23, Garland 5-18 2-4 13, LeVert 7-15 8-11 23, Morris Sr. 5-7 0-0 14, Thompson 1-2 0-2 2, Merrill 3-8 3-3 11, Porter Jr. 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 38-80 20-28 108.

INDIANA (103): Nesmith 4-9 0-0 9, Siakam 9-18 1-4 19, Turner 5-10 0-0 12, Haliburton 4-14 5-5 14, Nembhard 4-8 0-0 9, Toppin 4-6 1-1 10, Smith 3-9 3-6 11, McConnell 7-11 0-0 14, Sheppard 2-6 0-0 5. Totals 42-91 10-16 103.

CLE 25 29 36 18 — 108

IND 34 20 29 20 — 103

3-Point Goals—Cleveland 12-32 (Morris Sr. 4-5, Niang 3-4, Merrill 2-6, Okoro 1-2, LeVert 1-5, Garland 1-9, Porter Jr. 0-1), Indiana 9-38 (Turner 2-4, Smith 2-7, Toppin 1-2, Nembhard 1-4, Nesmith 1-5, Sheppard 1-5, Haliburton 1-9, McConnell 0-1, Siakam 0-1). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Cleveland 39 (Allen 9), Indiana 45 (Siakam 12). Assists_Cleveland 27 (LeVert 11), Indiana 28 (Haliburton 12). Total Fouls_Cleveland 18, Indiana 24. A_17,274 (20,000)

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Caris LeVert leads Cavs to win over struggling Pacers