The Cavaliers have sent various combinations of players through different eras to the playoffs over the course of the franchise. But the team that took on the Indiana Pacers in 1998 was unique.
After being swept out of the postseason in three games by New York in 1996, the Cavaliers began retooling the roster the following season and, in 1997, missed the playoffs for the first time in five years. Cleveland still finished above .500 at 42-40 and hosted the mid-season classic, with two-time All-Star playing in the game and winning the NBA Sportsmanship Award later that season.
In the 1997 Draft, the Cavaliers tabbed guards Derek Anderson and Brevin Knight in the first round and forward Cedric Henderson in the second. The previous season, they drafted a pair of big men – Vitaly Potapenko and Zydrunas Ilgauskas – with their two first-round picks, although Ilgauskas missed the entire campaign after undergoing right foot surgery.
The young, new-look Cavaliers were set to begin Training Camp when Wayne Embry connected on a blockbuster three-team deal, sending Brandon, Tyrone Hill and a 1998 1st round draft pick to the Milwaukee Bucks, Vin Baker to the Seattle SuperSonics and bring five-time All-Star Shawn Kemp to Cleveland.
At All-Star Weekend in New York, all three draft picks –plus Ilgauskas – were selected to participate in the Schick Rookie Challenge, with Big Z taking home MVP honors. The following day, Kemp became the first Cavalier in franchise history to be named a starter in the All-Star Game.
After a one-year hiatus, and after posting a 47-35 mark in 1997-98, Mike Fratello’s sixth-seeded Cavaliers returned the postseason – taking on Reggie Miller, Rik Smits and the Indiana Pacers.
Larry Bird’s seasoned squad handled the Cavaliers in the first two games of the series, but faced a confident Cavalier team when the series shifted back to Cleveland for Game 3.
The 58-win Pacers jumped out to a 27-22 edge after one quarter in Cleveland and it looked like Indy might break out the brooms. But if Fratello’s squad knew one thing – it was how to defend. And they held the high-powered Pacers to 15, 19 and 16 points over the next three quarters.
Kemp, meanwhile, was in All-Star form – finishing with 31 points, seven boards and a block. A young Ilgauskas finished with 13 points in Game 3, but averaged 17.3 ppg in the series, taking on one of the Eastern Conference’s best bigs in the Dunkin’ Dutchman. Fellow rookies, Anderson and Knight, finished with 11 points apiece.
The Cavaliers went on to take the 86-77 win over Indiana in front of 17,495 fans at what was then Gund Arena to cut into the Pacers’ series lead. Three nights later, however, the Pacers polished off the Cavs in another low-scoring affair, taking Game 4 and the series.
Mike Fratello’s squad lost the series, but gained some serious respect from a Pacers team that would eventually knock New York out of the postseason in five games before falling to the eventual-NBA Champion Bulls in a dramatic seven-game set.