Jeff Teague can't catch a break when the NBA playoffs come around. As a member of the Indiana Pacers, things were supposed to be different for the point guard, who aimed to go further in the postseason than ever before. Instead, his team was swept at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday afternoon. The narrative is a familiar one for Teague, all because of who he keeps seeing in the playoffs every year: one LeBron James.
A brief history of playoff sweeps
The Atlanta Hawks surprised many by clinching the top seed in the Eastern Conference in 2015 and they kept the train rolling all the way to the conference finals.
Teague and the Hawks ran into a buzzsaw there, though, as the Cleveland Cavaliers came to town. The first three games were relatively close, but the clincher was not, as Cleveland won at home by 30 points. The Cavs wound up losing in the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors.
The next year, the two teams met once again, this time in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The result was exactly the same, though. This time around, none of the games except for Game 4 were close, with the Cavs owning the series from beginning to end. Cleveland wound up winning the NBA title. As questions started to surround the future of the Hawks' core, Teague took his talent to Indiana in a trade. There, he would team up with Paul George and Myles Turner and hopefully meet a different fate in the postseason.
Different team, same result
Unfortunately, Teague just suffered at the hands of LeBron James once again in these NBA Playoffs. For some games, it felt as if the point guard was virtually nonexistent. He was one of the top performers on Sunday afternoon for his team, but with that being said, he only scored 15 points and dished out 10 assists.
It's not enough as a possible second-fiddle to get his team over the LeBron James hump.
A return trip to the NBA Playoffs may not even be in the cards. There's a decent chance the Pacers trade George away during the offseason, as their hopes are dimming to sign him to a long-term extension. Teague may not even be in town to find out, as he's slated to be a free agent.
He was born in Indianapolis, so he may have an interest in sticking around with his home team. Then again, nobody could blame him if he decided to move to a team in the Western Conference; that way, he wouldn't have to be swept by any LeBron James-led squad until the NBA Finals, unless he goes to a bad team that misses the postseason altogether.
