Kenny Atkinson Has Honest Admission About Pacers’ Offense On Sunday

The Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t keep up in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Indiana Pacers ran them out of the gym, and though the score wasn’t lopsided, they were always in control.

With that in mind, Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson had no choice but to tip his hat to his opponents.

“Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson called Indiana’s shotmaking ‘otherworldly’ and said it took them a while to adapt to the Pacers’ speed,” Evan Dammarell wrote on X.

#Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson called Indiana’s shotmaking “otherworldly” and said it took them a while to adapt to the Pacers’ speed.

— Evan Dammarell (@AmNotEvan) May 5, 2025

Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton kept his strong postseason going, pulling the strings of the offense and finishing with 22 points and 13 assists.

Overall, the Pacers shot 53.0 percent from the floor, 52.8 percent from beyond the arc, and sank 14 of 15 free throws.

The Cavs were lethal in the paint, scoring 70 points.

Unfortunately, they shot just 23.7 percent from 3-point territory, including 1-of-11 from beyond the arc from Donovan Mitchell.

Mitchell needed 30 shots to score 33 points, and that’s not going to get the job done in the playoffs very often.

The Cavs clearly missed Darius Garland, who is out with an injury.

His court vision, playmaking and passing could’ve helped the Cavs push the pace and keep up with the Pacers’ speed and athleticism.

This series is just getting started, and there’s no need to panic.

Then again, the Pacers now hold home-court advantage, and they’ve beaten the Cavaliers three times in a row and four out of five times this season.

The Cavs had arguably the best offense in the NBA all season long, so there’s hope for a better performance, but the margin for error just got significantly more narrow after this somewhat shocking setback.