"It took us two quarters, but we got the lead down to 10, they took it back up to 20 again, and we never lost our composure".
The series now shifts to IN, where the Pacers look extend the series after playing the defending champs pretty close IN the first two games.
Despite pushing defending champion Cleveland to the edge in three straight playoff games, in now finds itself in danger of becoming the first Pacers team to be swept in a best-of-seven series. Everything worked on offense. IN scored 37 points in the first quarter, falling just short of a season high (39), then matched that 37 in the second quarter for its highest first-half total of the season. Myles Turner did this to Tristan Thompson. This "secret plan" was apparently specific to the Cavs stopping the Pacers.
Alas, The King was not so eager to let that happen, as he turned in a masterful second-half performance. The Cavs made their adjustments and the Pacers crumbled under the firepower of the defending champs. The Nets then ran off three wins in a row to go the NBA Finals, where they lost to the San Antonio Spurs. The Cavs were settling for 3s and weren't penetrating with the same vigor we've come to expect from guys like Kyrie Irving and James.
"Tonight was very special", said Love, who combined with Irving to make only 8 of 29 field goal attempts after he James and Irving combined to score 89 points in Cleveland's Game 2 victory. The move pulled Turner from the paint to the 3-point-line. In three seasons, the Cavaliers have yet to lose a first-round game.
It was a tale of two halves.
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The two police officers injured in the attack are out of danger, Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said. President Barack Obama spoke with a different French candidate, Emmanuel Macron, a pro-EU centrist.
"We knew we had to take (some) punches, but it was a flurry, more than we expected", James said. The Pacers were quick to find an open man and they punished the Cavs for it with corner 3s and wide-open lanes to the basket.
Had his moments, but was part of the problem in the third quarter. And, anytime Lance Stephenson has the ball a lot of times, failure always seems to outdo success. During the regular season, they gave up the 11th-most points per game (107.2).
LeBron James might have some work left to do to catch Kobe Bryant's five championships, but he now has eclipsed the former Los Angeles Lakers star in another statistical category that defined Bryant's career: playoff points. He passed Wes Unseld for postseason rebounds. So many chances to not allow the Cleveland Cavaliers to make the biggest comeback in National Basketball Association playoff history.
LeBron James has spent the past 14 years building a resume that would warrant an all-time great spot in the pantheon of National Basketball Association history. Still, the Pacers showed up this morning with a mood that wasn't so much disappointed as it was "pissed off", according to IN coach Nate McMillan, "because we allowed that game to get away".
Now the Pacers are one loss away from being eliminated by James' team for the fourth time in six years.
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