The Cleveland Cavaliers’ 12-game profitable streak got here to an finish on Sunday evening with a 108-93 loss to the Indiana Pacers.
The Cavaliers have risen to prime of the japanese convention due to a current run together with wins towards rivals Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks.
However Andrew Nembhard, who prime scored with 19 factors, and Pascal Siakam, who hit 18 factors, mixed to assist the Pacers to victory.
It was the Cavaliers’ first defeat since 8 December and simply their fifth from 38 matches this season.
“There was nothing to lose, that is one of the best crew within the league proper now,” mentioned Nembhard.
“We needed to play onerous, play collectively, and put some extra physicality within the sport on the defensive facet of the ball, and play off of that.”
The Cavaliers, who’re 40.3% from three pointers this season, made simply 11 (26.8%) of 41 towards the Pacers.
Reflecting on the loss, Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson mentioned: “What disillusioned me was our first half was phenomenal, defensively, after which the second half, we fell off. We could not maintain our defence.”