Indiana Pacers vs Cleveland Cavaliers Prediction, 5/4/2025 Preview and Pick

Game: Indiana Pacers vs Cleveland Cavaliers

Date: Sunday, May 4, 2025

Location: Rocket Arena in Cleveland, OH

TV: TNT

Odds/Point Spread: Indiana (+7.0)

The Indiana Pacers are en route to Rocket Arena on Sunday where they will play the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Cleveland opens this game as 7-point favorites from Vegas oddsmakers. The total comes in at 229.

The Pacers faced off with the Bucks and notched a win by a score of 119-118 in their last contest to close out their first round series. Regarding personal fouls, the Pacers ended up with 19 and the Bucks finished the game with 23 personal fouls. They buried 19 of 40 shots from three-point range. Milwaukee finished shooting 65.4% at the charity stripe by burying 17 of 26 shots. On top of that, Milwaukee had 53 boards (13 offensive, 40 defensive) and got 4 blocks. Milwaukee doled out 25 dimes and had 9 steals in this game. With respect to the defense, Indiana allowed the other team to go 45.6% from the field on 41 out of 90 shooting. They also doled out 24 assists in the matchup in addition to creating 18 turnovers and having 10 steals. In relation to grabbing rebounds, they collected 45 with 9 of them being of the offensive sort. At the charity stripe, the Pacers knocked down 21 of 28 shots for a rate of 75.0%. Indiana wrapped up the contest with a 46.2% field goal percentage (43 of 93) and knocked down 12 of their 33 3-point shots.

Tyrese Haliburton is one guy who came through in this game. Haliburton finished the game shooting 45.5% from the field and also recorded 9 dimes. He was on the hardwood for 42 minutes played and pulled down 5 boards. He was able to score 26 points on 10 of 22 shooting.

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Indiana will play this game with a win-loss record of 50-32 for the campaign. They are turning it over 13.2 times per contest and as a group they are committing 18.7 fouls per contest. As a team, Indiana is snagging 41.8 boards per contest and is sitting with 2,398 assists on the year, which is 3rd in the NBA in terms of passing the ball. The Pacers are hitting 36.8% on three-point shots (1,081 of 2,934) and 78.9% from the free throw line. They are averaging 117.4 points per game (7th in the NBA) while hitting 48.8% from the field.

On the defensive end, the Pacers are forcing 15.0 turnovers every game while drawing 18.8 personal fouls. They are 12th in the NBA in giving up assists to the opposition with 2,131 conceded so far this season. The Pacers defense is giving up a field goal percentage of 47.4% (3,493 of 7,372) and they concede 45.0 boards per contest as a basketball team. They are surrendering 35.5% on shots from beyond the perimeter and they are ranked 17th in the league in points per game allowed (115.1).

When they last stepped on the hardwood, the Cavaliers walked away with a victory by a final of 138-83 when they played the Heat to sweep that series. The Cavaliers recorded 43 defensive rebounds and 8 offensive rebounds for a total of 51 for this game. They also turned the ball over 12 times, while recording 15 steals for the contest. The Heat had 18 fouls in this contest which got the Cavaliers to the charity stripe for a total of 25 shots. They were able to make 22 of the free throw attempts for a percentage of 88.0%. In terms of shooting from downtown, Cleveland made 22 out of their 47 tries (46.8%). When the final whistle was blown, the Cavaliers shot 47 out of 86 from the floor which had them at 54.7%. The Cavaliers permitted the Heat to knock down 32 of 89 tries from the floor which had them shooting 36.0% in the matchup. They finished 20.4% from behind the 3-point line by going 10 out of 49 and ended up going 9 out of 15 at the charity stripe (60.0%). In regard to rebounds, Cleveland permitted Miami to grab 45 in all (15 on the offensive side).

Donovan Mitchell was important for the Cavaliers in this contest. Mitchell had 22 points in his 25 minutes on the hardwood and accounted for 5 dimes in this matchup. He made 8 of 15 for this game for a field goal percentage of 53.3%, but wasn't able to snag a rebound.

Cleveland has a win-loss mark of 64-18 for the season. On the offensive side of the court, the Cavaliers are shooting 49.1% from the floor, which ranks 2nd in the NBA. Cleveland has scored 9,999 points so far this season (121.9 per contest) and they snag 45.4 boards per contest. Their rate of dishing out assists is at 28.1 times per contest (9th in the league) and they turn the ball over 13.2 times per game. The Cavaliers are committing 18.1 personal fouls every game and they go 77.6% from the free throw line.

The Cavaliers on defense are ranked 12th in the league in points per game surrendered with 112.4. They are able to force 14.5 TO's per game and have let teams shoot 45.4% from the field (3rd in the league). The Cleveland defense allows 35.9% on shots from beyond the perimeter (1,104 of 3,075) and their opposition makes 77.9% of their shots from the free throw line. They relinquish 25.6 assists and 43.5 rebounds per game, which ranks 8th and 11th in the NBA.

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Indiana (+7.0)

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