Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Indiana Pacers 2018: Game 5 Start Time, Betting Odds, TV Channel

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers will meet Wednesday night in Game 5 of their first-round NBA playoff series. The winner will take a 3-2 series lead and will be just one victory away from punching their ticket to the second round of the postseason.

With the series returning to Cleveland, the Cavaliers are 6.5-point favorites, according to the betting odds at OddsShark. Game 5 is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. EDT on TNT. Viewers can watch a live stream online at tntdrama.com.

Cleveland and Indiana have put together the most entertaining series of the first round. The Cavs entered the postseason as heavy favorites, but that quickly changed with an 18-point loss in Game 1. The team bounced back behind a dominant performance by LeBron James in Game 2. Cleveland blew a 17-point lead on the road in Game 3 and survived Game 4 to tie up the series.

James has been asked to carry a larger load this series than he has at any point during his second stint with the Cavaliers. The four-time MVP is leading the team with 32.5 points, 11.8 rebounds, 8.0 assists and 1.0 blocks per game. No one else is averaging more than 12 points or 2.0 assists per contest.

James is averaging 43 minutes per game, and he showed signs of fatigue while sitting just eight total minutes in Cleveland’s last two games in Indiana. The team will need someone like Kevin Love or JR Smith to step up in Game 5.

The Cavs’ defense has actually been much better than it was in the regular season. Concerns about the team’s defense prevented them from being heavy Eastern Conference favorites like they had been in years’ past, but the Pacers haven’t scored more than 100 points in any of the four games.

Victor Oladipo has led the way offensively for Indiana, scoring 22.3 points per game. He didn’t shoot well at home as the Pacers split two games with the Cavs and only scored a combined 192 points. Bojan Bogdanovic bailed Indiana’s offense out in Game 3 with 30 points on seven three-pointers.

The series returns to Indiana Friday night.