And this is before you have the conversation about how Paul George is calling out teammates or the team spirit every other game.
Despite all that - and 42 points from The Big Three and.600 shooting from the field (24-for-40) - the Cavs led just 63-58 at intermission because they committed 11 turnovers and IN connected at a.523 clip (23-for-44).
"We have a chance to do something we all have been wanting to do all season, and that's to put together a four-quarter game", he said. Just his energy defensively, made a couple shots, his tenacity it was really good for us.
But if there's a group built for such a challenge, it would seem to be this one.
The Gregg Popovich coached Spurs were cruising and had a 26-point lead, but they let the Grizzlies back in to the game and early in the fourth quarter to lead by just four points.
And in spite of that offensive brilliance, with a 121.5 offensive rating, the Cavaliers won the game by just six points and almost gave up that massive lead in the fourth quarter. "If they're going to play small like that, Kevin should dominate", said Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue.
"I thought we lost our composure and got frantic out there", McMillan said of his team's third-quarter problems. They know they can compete.
Iman Shumpert went from odd-man out to go-to guy in just two games. Kyrie Irving is playing 36.5 minutes so far and Kevin Love 35.
General Election 2017: Everything you need to know
Ms May pledged several times after taking office a year ago not to call an early election, so this is something of a U-turn. Grantham & Stamford MP Nick Boles has reportedly said that he is undecided whether or not he will stand in the election.
Maybe LeBron rallies his troops and they make another push, but I don't see it happening.
It wasn't long ago that Shumpert was starting, but a poor stretch from mid-March until the final regular season game damaged Lue's confidence in him. TV analysts, even as late as Monday night, were eager to point to Stephenson as a sparkplug for Indiana.
Outside of Tristan Thompson, who is a good defensive player, and James, who can be when he's locked in and motivated to be (which, understandably, is not all the time in his 14th year in the National Basketball Association at age 32) Cleveland regularly plays no one who can honestly be considered better than an average defender. After coughing it up 11 times in Game 1, leading to 19 points for in, the Cavs had 11 turnovers in the first half Monday and the Pacers scored 14 points off of them. Monday night, the Cavs committed 19 turnovers. Overall we shot ball in the paint 35 times and we had 15 free throws - for the game.
Irving scored 37 and Love 27 in Game 2, partnering with James to become the first threesome in Cavs' history to score 25 points apiece in a playoff game. Deron Williams has yet to get adjusted to their system, Kyle Korver's shot is nowhere to be found and JR Smith is once again injured with a hamstring strain.
Kyrie Irving had 37 points (playoff career-high 25 in 2nd H) on.583 (14-24) shooting, two assists and a steal in 34 minutes.
When things start to loosen for Cleveland's spot-up shooters, and the Big 3 continues to roll, that's when the Cavs will have arrived at what they can become.
George, who had just four points in the decisive third period, led in with 32 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while Jeff Teague, who was getting X-rays on his right wrist after the game, had 23 points. "We take away some of these easy baskets we're giving up, and these games might be a little different".
Comments