The Indiana Pacers fought tooth and nail with the Cleveland Cavaliers for seven games in the first round of the NBA playoffs. In the end, however, the Cavs had the best player on the court, and they advanced to take on the Toronto Raptors. Thaddeus Young has not enjoyed watching that second-round series.
Young, the 29-year-old veteran forward, told Hoops Hype after Game Two that the Pacers have been frustrated watching the Cavs dominate the Raptors.
“It’s funny that you asked me that because I was just texting Vic [Oladipo], Darren Collison, and Cory Joseph last night and I said, ‘Man, so they’re just going to let Cleveland walk into the Eastern Conference Finals? They’re letting them walk into the next round,’” Young said.
He added: “I told them, ‘Man, this is crazy. We’re supposed to be out there right now.’ We all understand that we lost the series and there were self-inflicted mistakes on our part. But, at the end of the day, Toronto has to at least win a couple games.”
Cavs Owning Raps
The Raptors earned the No. 1 seed in the regular season, but they’ve looked far inferior in their matchup with Cleveland. The Cavs — and LeBron in particular — just seem to be in the Raps’ heads.
“The first game could have gone either way, but the second game? You can’t come back like that,” Young said. “To answer your question, it’s damn frustrating to watch these games. We’re sitting at home and watching these games like, ‘Man, we would’ve at least been in the game. We would’ve at least gotten ourselves back into the game and made it a fight.’”
The Raptors have twice come close to victory but LeBron’s heroics have propelled Cleveland to a dominant, 3-0 series lead. Saturday night he banked in a running game-winner, and his peers around the NBA went wild.
