Cavaliers @ Pacers

Who will WIN this matchup?

Cleveland Cavaliers (2-2)

@ Indiana Pacers (1-3)

Current odds:

Cleveland Cavaliers: (+260)

Indiana Pacers: (-320)

• The line for this game is Pacers by 7.5 points.

• The Indiana Pacers put together their best offensive performance of the young season and managed to close out a three-game road trip with their first win on Wednesday. The Pacers will try to make it two in a row and earn some revenge when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday. Indiana began its road trip with a 110-99 loss at the Cavaliers and fell at Detroit 96-94 before watching four players score at least 20 points in the 118-108 triumph at Brooklyn on Wednesday. “Monkey off our back,” point guard Malcolm Brogdon told reporters of the feeling of earning the first win. “Now we can just play ball. I think this was the bigger step for us, figuring out our identity.”

• Cleveland is a team in transition with veterans up front and youngsters in the backcourt and the young players stepped up late in Wednesday’s 117-111 victory over Chicago. “I was very proud,” veteran center Tristan Thompson told reporters. “It’s on us to make their job easier and they accept the challenge. They’re fearless and they’re not going to back down from nobody and not quit and that’s the type of mentality we’ve got to have – a team that’s going to play a full 48. They came ready to play.”

• Rookie point guard Darius Garland and second-year guard Collin Sexton combined for 30 points in the win over Indiana on Saturday and the two were in the game at crunch time again in Wednesday’s triumph. “Volume will always breed confidence,” Cavaliers coach John Beilein told reporters. “And the more they are in there, the more they are going to get. But we’re also not afraid to let them make mistakes right now too and learn from it. So, the video never lies. They see that the next day, and I’m sure we’ll have with both of those guys lots of clips that they can grow from, but also show them all the good things that they were doing today.” Sexton is averaging 17.5 points while Garland chips in 9.5 points and 3.5 assists and rookie shooting guard Kevin Porter Jr. scored a season-high nine points on Wednesday.

• The lone Indiana starter to not reach 20 points on Wednesday was center Myles Turner, who left in the first quarter with a sprained right ankle that is expected to keep him out on Friday. Power forward Domantas Sabonis stepped up with Turner out and delivered a season-high 29 points on 11-of-18 shooting to go with eight rebounds and four assists and a pair of 3-pointers. “Monster. He was monster down there,” Pacers coach Nate McMillan told reporters of Sabonis. “Defending, rebounding, initiating offense – he had to play a lot of minutes, but he was fired up and I thought we rode his energy.”

• Thompson and Cavaliers PF Kevin Love both recorded a double-double in each of the first four games.

• Brogdon recorded 21 points and 13 assists on Wednesday for his fourth double-double in as many games.

• Indiana PG Edmond Sumner was diagnosed with a broken right hand on Thursday and will be evaluated in three weeks.