Cleveland, OH
What to watch for in Cleveland Cavaliers vs Indiana Pacers
The Cleveland Cavaliers (47-33) will host the Indiana Pacers (46-34) in the second-to-last game of the regular season. The two teams are separated by one game in the Eastern Conference standings, with this game deciding the tiebreaker should it come to that to determine playoff positioning.
What: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Indiana Pacers
Where: Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse – Cleveland, OH
When: 7:30 PM EST
How to Watch: Bally Sports Ohio, NBA League Pass
Line: CLE -2.5
Expected Cavaliers Starting Lineup: Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen
Cavaliers Injury Report: Sam Merrill (neck, DOUBTFUL), Dean Wade (knee, OUT), Ty Jerome (ankle, OUT)
Expected Pacers Starting Lineup: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner
Pacers Injury Report: Isaiah Jackson (hamstring, QUESTIONABLE), Bennedict Mathurin (shoulder, OUT), Quinton Jackson (G League, QUESTIONABLE), Isaiah Wong (G League, QUESTIONABLE), Oscar Tshiebwe (G League, QUESTIONABLE)
What to watch for: Playoff atmosphere
The Cavs may still need to win their game Sunday against the Charlotte Hornets, but one way to lessen that need would be to go out and beat the Pacers tonight. With a win, Cleveland would avoid the play-in, win the tiebreaker over Indiana, and put themselves in a position to host a playoff series. Despite having a dreadful last few weeks of the season, the Cavs could find themselves in the same position they were last year: starting the playoffs at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
This is a moot point if the Cavs come out flat, much like they did against the Memphis Grizzlies one game earlier. The Grizzlies, without any starters, held a three-point lead over the healthy Cavs at halftime. If they come out with the same level of intensity, the Cavs may have to climb a mountain in the second half. This is a test of not only Cleveland’s defense, as Indiana has the best offense in the league, but one of mental fortitude as well.
Poor body language, slack offense, and not getting back on defense have plagued the Cavs throughout the last several weeks. They cannot allow that aura to take over, or it’ll be a quick night.
What to watch for: Defensive intensity
Indiana has one of the best offenses in the league, leading the NBA in points per game, field goal percentage, and assists per game. They are also second in pace, effective field goal percentage, and offensive rating. Driven by Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam, the Pacers are ripe to drop 125 points on any given night.
That means the Cavs will need to up their defensive intensity. They weren’t particularly good against the G League lineup Memphis rolled out last game, and the Pacers are an exponentially more potent monster. In their last 15 games, the Cavs essentially have the same defense as the Washington Wizards with a 116.3 defensive rating (24th in the league). In that same timeframe, the Pacers have the second-best offensive rating (120.8) in the league behind the Boston Celtics.
This is a scenario of two teams heading in opposite directions. The Pacers are playing well to round out the season while the Cavs are struggling to put away bad teams like Memphis. One way to help light a fire is to get active on the defensive end. Indiana is not a particularly adept defensive team (24th in the NBA), so if Cleveland can string together some stops and turn them into buckets on the other end it could be the catalyst to put their foot on the throat. But they need to find that gear.
One stat to watch for: Darius Garland shot attempts
The Cavs’ ceiling is centered on several players, but Darius Garland is at or near the top of that list. He has shown more aggressiveness on the offensive end of late, which is good to see. Following a bizarre stretch in which he never attempted more than 17 shots per game (most of those without Donovan Mitchell on the floor, mind you), Garland attempted 25 and 22 shots against the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers respectively. Against the Grizzlies, he only got up 13 shot attempts, hitting five of them, and going 2-9 from three-point territory.
Garland needs to be aggressive, particularly in getting to his spots and taking shots. His passiveness sometimes slows the Cavs down too much, and failing to start a posession until half the shot clock has expired allows opposing defenses to set up and counter. At the beginning of the season, J.B. Bickerstaff preached about having a more dynamic offense that is faster and more run-and-gun. Garland (and Mitchell, too) needs to be the tip of the spear for that against a Pacers’ defense that should have enough soft spots to exploit.
CLEVELAND — For the first time in U.S. history, a Navy warship will be commissioned in Ohio.
Commissioning a ship is a time-honored naval tradition that formally places a ship into active duty.
The USS Cleveland arrived in its namesake city on Saturday, coasting into Cleveland’s North Coast Yard. It’s the fourth ship in U.S. Navy history to bear the name Cleveland.
“It’s a little bit bigger than a flight deck. About 25% bigger,” said Commanding Officer Bruce Hallett. “And it’s higher up, the water makes it a little easier for pilots to be able to land on it. So they like it.”
Hallett has served with the Navy for more than 20 years.
“There are up and overs. So these flags are actually single flags. So we have quartermasters on board,” Hallett said of the colorful flags seen across the ship. “So they can use these to send signals to other ships. But in this capacity right here, they’re just purely for decoration.”
Inside the ship, the decorations pay homage to Cleveland, with two murals in the waterborne mission zone depicting key landmarks and Cleveland Browns signs in the gym.
“It’s all swagged out with all kinds of Cleveland Browns stuff new,” said Hallett. “We got the colors down there, the flags, the towels. It looks phenomenal. And the crew loves it.”
Sailors have been touring the city throughout the week, and Executive Officer Adam Cline has been coordinating community relations events with the crew. He sent two specific sailors to City Hall.
“We have two members of our crew that are from Cleveland,” Hall said. “That’s where they grew up. So it was real nice to incorporate them into that and to get a great memento from the city, a nice flag for us.”
The USS Cleveland will be commissioned Saturday and then head to its home port of Florida. When the ship eventually retires, the USS Cleveland Legacy Foundation hopes to bring it back to become a museum.
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – A U.S. Navy warship will be commissioned in Ohio on Saturday for the first time in 250 years.
The USS Cleveland is docked on Lake Erie ahead of the 10 a.m. ceremony.
Commander Bruce Hallett has commanded the USS Cleveland for more than two years.
“It is extremely exciting to be able to bring the USS Cleveland here to Cleveland and to be able to commission this ship here — obviously to introduce it to the city so that they can see the ship that bears their name,” Hallett said. “This has been a long time coming.”
The ship’s hallways are named after Cleveland streets, including East 9th and St. Clair Avenue.
A mural honoring the city of Cleveland is displayed on board. The Navy says it is rare to see something like this on a warship.
“Amazing mural, right? We’re so proud to have that on board,” Hallett said. “We’re just pretty much in awe when we saw all the stuff that we have in the city, and now we have it as part of the Cleveland. We love it as a crew.”
The ship’s weight room was outfitted by the Cleveland Browns with flags, towels, and mats.
“The Browns came and added their own touches to that weight room,” Hallett said. “So it’s all swagged out with all kinds of Cleveland Browns stuff now.”
The ship carries a crew of about 90, including two sailors who grew up in Cleveland.
The USS Cleveland is the final Freedom-variant littoral combat ship to be commissioned in the U.S. Navy.
Copyright 2026 WOIO. All rights reserved.
A trio of locally made films will grace area screens, here is your Movie Nerd Report for the week of May 11-17.
Thursday evening will bring the red-carpet premiere of “The Last Shop On Walnut” at the Cedar Lee Theatre (2163 Lee Rd Cleveland Heights, OH 44118) . The film, which was written and directed by Jason Richardson, was mostly shot in Ravenna. It stars Peter Lawson Jones and Cleveland native Kym Whitley. The screening will benefit the Charles & Margaret Jones Endowed Scholarship Fund at College Now. Tickets can be found at this link.
Can’t make the premiere? The Cedar Lee will be playing the film for at least a full week starting Friday!
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“Blood & Rust” the debut feature from Kent State alumni Jeremy Herbert, will be coming to Cranked Up TV on May 19 and The Ashland Cinema (212 Center Street Ashland, OH 44805) will be offering a screening of it this Friday evening at 7 p.m., and it is free!
Sunday at 3:30 p.m. the Capitol Theatre (1390 W.65th Street Cleveland, OH 44102) will present the directorial debut of Frank Calo IV in “Last Call”. Sounds like this one is poised to sell out so click here to grab your tickets.
Over at the Cleveland Cinematheque (11610 Euclid Ave Cleveland, OH 44118) :
Cleveland is fortunate to be one of the five select cities of the Future of Film Is Female Series which highlights films from female and nonbinary filmmakers. The first film in this series kicks off Thursday at 6:30 p.m. with the Midwest road trip film, “Dreams In Nightmares.”
Thursday at 9 p.m. and Friday at 9 p.m. they will present a 4K Restoration of the Dutch classic “Malpertius,” which features Orson Welles.
Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 4:30 p.m. they will present the Italian dramedy “The Last One For The Road.”
Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7:35 p.m. they will present a documentary that explores the effects of colonialism on Northern Argentina in “Our Land.”
Saturday at 8:50 p.m. and Sunday at 5:45 p.m. they will present a 4K Restoration of the Argentinian film “The Headless Woman”
Sunday at 3:30 p.m. they will present the documentary “Four Rational People,” which looks at the Emerson String Quartet’s final performance.
More information about the films and ticket prices are at: cinematheque.cia.edu
At the Nightlight Cinema (30 N High Street Akron, OH 44308):
One of the most acclaimed films of the year is the Canadian drama “Blue Herron,” it is the feature debut of Sophy Romvari, who gained attention for her short films.
They also will be playing the documentary “Steal This Story, Please,” which highlights independent investigative journalist Amy Goodman.
More Information about the films and ticket prices are at: nightlightcinema.com
This weekend there are a trio of new films opening in wide release: The first is one that I would recommend if you are a horror fan – “Obsession”. This film continues a trend where we are seeing Youtubers become filmmakers, in this case it is 26-year-old Curry Barker. This is a spin on “be careful what you wish for” when a young man makes a wish for his crush to love him more than anything else in the world, and it gets increasingly disturbing from there. I personally loved it and thought the performance from actress Inde Navarrette will make her a star.
“Is God Is” is a revenge tale which was based on an award-winning play by Alesha Harris. Harris makes her feature directorial debut and currently the film stands at 95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes!
The other film opening is the latest from director Guy Ritchie, the action-thriller “In The Grey” with Jake Gyllenhall and Henry Cavill.
Rounding out this busy week are some anniversaries hitting screens in “Top Gun” and “Top Gun: Maverick” for one week to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Tony Scott’s original, and the original “Shrek” is also playing for one week to commemorate its 25th Anniversary (Anniversaries like this are making your resident movie nerd feel old!).
Lastly, I just wanted to wish congratulations to my longtime friend Dave Huffman, who has just been named the new director of The Cleveland Cinematheque! If you have ever attended some of the Late Shift Series back in the day at the Cedar Lee or Capitol, or the 12 Hours of Terror, you know that Dave is a huge cinephile and I am certain will do a great job at the Cinematheque!
Until next week my friends, see ya at the movies!
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