Cavaliers ready for fast-paced NBA Playoffs series against Pacers when it begins on Sunday night

CLEVELAND (AP) — Kenny Atkinson has one simple message for his Cleveland Cavaliers going into their Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Indiana Pacers.

Put your track shoes on.

The top-seeded Cavaliers had the NBA’s top offense in the regular season, averaging 121.9 points. The fourth-seeded Pacers averaged 117.4 points (seventh-best), but have one of the quickest teams in the league, and like to go full throttle.

“We have the athleticism and speed, it’s just the initial shock of them doing it so consistently,” Atkinson said. “I give (coach) Rick Carlisle and their group so much credit because it plays into their personnel. The message to our guys is how resilient we can be with our running. We do it three times, they’re going to do it four. Can we do it for longer?”

The matchup everyone will be watching when the series starts Sunday night at Rocket Arena will be between Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell.

Haliburton — who averaged 17.6 points against Milwaukee — is averaging a playoff-best 11.6 assists per game running the Pacers’ five out offense. He also was the first Indiana player in 11 years to begin a playoff series with four straight double-doubles.

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“He’s a talented player. Since the All-Star break, he’s been averaging like 20 points and 11 assists,” Mitchell said. “I have a lot of respect for him and what he brings over there. We understand how important he is to that group. He’s a threat and we got to make sure we try to find ways to neutralize one of the biggest threats on their team.”

Mitchell averaged 23.8 points against the Miami Heat in the opening round. If the All-Star guard puts up 30 points on Sunday, it will be his eighth straight game with at least 30 points in a series opener, which would surpass Michael Jordan.

“They’re the best team in the East for a reason,” Haliburton said. “They’ve got a lot of depth. They shoot the ball well, defend at a high level, they got rim protection, they’ve got everything. We’re excited to compete against those guys, and there’s not a ton of film -- them having all their guys and us having all our guys.”

Both teams have had time to prepare for what is expected to be a long series. Cleveland closed out Miami in four games on Monday night while Indiana’s series against Milwaukee wrapped up on Tuesday.

Starting guard Andrew Nembhard, one of the Pacers top defenders, believes the extra time will benefit the Pacers because they avoided another physical battle on the road.

“It’s definitely a big advantage, us not having to go to Milwaukee and play Game 6,” he said. “We’re better when we’re rested.”

Garland’s status

Cleveland’s Darius Garland will be a game-time decision as he continues to deal with a nagging big toe injury. The All-Star guard — who missed the final two games of the regular season and then Games 3 and 4 of the Miami series after aggravating the injury — did not practice on Saturday, but had a heavy workload and went through a full-contact session on Friday.

Atkinson said Garland is likely going to have to deal with the injury for the rest of the playoffs.

“The toe’s a tough one,” Atkinson said. “There’s pain and all that. But the good thing when we watch him shooting right now, he’s moving well.”

Change of pace

Yes, the Pacers are playing their second straight playoff series against a division foe, but it could be very different from the chippy Milwaukee series.

While the Pacers and Bucks sparred 20 times over the past two seasons including back-to-back first round series, both won by the Pacers, these teams haven’t met in the postseason since back-to-back first round matchups in 2017 and 2018, when LeBron James was Cleveland’s star player.

In fact, they’ve not even really squared off this season with either team at full strength. The result: Indiana has resorted to some unique ways to prepare.

“I would bet that’s not happened a lot in NBA history,” Haliburton said “I missed two games, a game and a half, so I mean the film is weird. But I think you take the bits and pieces as much as you can and figure out how to insert. ... I think you have to use your imagination at some point, watching the last series and seeing how Tyler (Herro), how he’s attacking these guys offensively. It’s very interesting, but it poses a little bit of a different threat and an opportunity.”

He’s No. 2

When San Antonio announced Friday that Gregg Popovich would no longer coach the Spurs, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle moved up to second on wins list of active coaches.

Carlisle needs seven more regular-season victories to become the 11th coach to reach 1,000 wins and over his 23 NBA seasons, Carlisle has been through plenty of tough matchups. And he doesn’t want anybody overlooking this series, which features two of the league’s smaller-market but well-supported teams.

“Indianapolis and Cleveland are two both great cities and very underrated cities,” he said. “I’ve been to Cleveland enough times to know their fan base is rabid, their building is one of the loudest. So it’s going to be a high level of competition.”

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AP sports writer Mike Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba