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Key: Getting Even
After sweeping through the First Round in each of the previous three postseasons, the Wine & Gold find themselves in an unfamiliar spot heading into Sunday’s Game 4 in Indiana. Instead of looking to put the Pacers away, they’ll be fighting to even the series at two games apiece after Friday night’s frustrating Game 3 loss at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
In that defeat, the Cavaliers blew a fourth quarter lead for the first time all season, running off 40 straight wins before their Game 3 collapse – relinquishing a 17-point halftime edge as the aggressive Pacers held Cleveland to just 33 points after intermission.
Even including last year’s two victories in Indiana, the Cavaliers have struggled mightily here – dropping 16 of their last 19 visits to Indianapolis.
Historically speaking, the Cavs are 25-13 all-time in Game 4s and went 4-0 last season. They’ve also rallied back four times from a 2-1 deficit to win a series – most recently against Chicago in the 2016 Playoffs.
But they’ve got their work cut out for them this spring – taking on a Pacers squad that took three of four during the regular season and two of the first three games here in the First Round. Of course, if the Cavs win, they regain homecourt advantage with Game 5 set for Wednesday night at The Q.
Key: Double Trouble
There’s no way around it: it’s been a frustrating series through three games for LeBron James.
He notched a triple-double in a lopsided loss in Game 1, put up 46 points in a three-point win in Game 2 and played the entire second half of Friday’s Game 3 and came out with the second loss in the series.
In that defeat, the four-time MVP led Cleveland with 28 points while leading both squads with 12 boards and eight assists. In the process, James became just the 10th player in NBA history to record 100 postseason double-doubles, tying Hakeem Olajuwon for 9th-most all-time.
It was LeBron’s 12th straight double-double against the Pacers and the 60th time in his career that he led his team in scoring, rebounding and assists. (The next-closest players to that mark are Larry Bird and Tim Duncan with 21 games apiece.)
On Friday night, LeBron went 10-for-22 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from long-range. But like the rest of his teammates, he struggled during Cleveland’s anemic third quarter.
And in a true Playoff rarity, he was outdone by the player guarding him, as Bojan Bogdanovic went off for a game-high 30 points – including 15 in the fourth quarter – going 11-for-15 from the floor, including 7-of-9 from beyond the arc.
The fourth-year forward has been good throughout the series, but Cleveland can’t allow him to take over another contest the way he did in the second stanza of Friday’s loss.
Key: Stairway to Kevin
Through three games, it’s been an uneven series for Kevin Love – who struggled to get his shot in Game 1, struggled to hit his shot in Game 2 and took only two attempts in the second half of Friday’s defeat.
That’s not to say he’s having a bad series. He’s notched double-figures in each of the last two contests and grabbed a game-high 17 boards in the First Round opener – averaging a double-double at 14.3 points and 10.3 boards per.
But the Wine & Gold will need the five-time All-Star to be more aggressive the rest of the way if they’re going to rally past a confident Pacers squad.
In Friday’s loss, Love came out with that intention – notching 16 points before intermission. But his three second-half points didn’t come until the closing moments, when he drilled a triple from the corner to get Cleveland to within a point.
Part of Love’s frustration has been the play on both ends of both Myles Turner and Thaddeus Young.
Turner averaged 17.0 points per in the first two games of the series and led Indiana with 10 boards on Friday.
Young has been effective defensively against both Love and LeBron and notched his first double-figure effort in Game 3 – finishing with 12 points on 6-for-10 shooting. In the series, the underrated 11-year veteran – who’s notched three steals in each of the last two games – is shooting 65 percent from the floor.
Key: Vexing Victor
After going off in the first game of the series, the Cavaliers have been able to at least contain Victor Oladipo over the next two.
He finished with a relatively quiet 22 points in Indy’s Game 2 loss and struggled mightily shooting the ball in Game 3 – going just 5-of-15 from the floor, including 1-of-8 from beyond the arc to finish with 18 points.
The Wine & Gold know that the former No. 2 overall pick is going to get his – he averaged 25.0 points per in four regular season contests and is at 24.0 through the first three games of the First Round – but they need to mitigate his offensive impact, which they’ve done over the past two outings.
One of the big reasons for that is JR Smith, who came off the bench to notch 15 points in the series opener but has made his mark almost exclusively on the defensive end since moving into the starting lineup in Game 2. He struggled to shoot the ball on Friday night, going just 3-of-11 from the floor, including 2-of-8 from long-range in the loss.
Since Game 2, Coach Tyronn Lue has gone with both Smith and Kyle Korver in the starting lineup. Korver, however, simply hasn’t been himself so far in the series.
He was solid in Wednesday’s Game 2 victory – finishing with 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting from long-range. But the veteran sharpshooter attempted just three shots in both Games 1 and 3, going scoreless in each.
Key: Getting Their Point Across
After being completely settled at the point guard position over the past few years, the Wine & Gold have struggled with continuity at that position throughout this past season.
That uncertainty has bled into the postseason and George Hill’s back problems haven’t done anything to alleviate the issue.
Hill, who played his college ball right here in Indianapolis, came out guns-blazing on Friday night – netting nine points in the opening period and 11 points in the first half as Cleveland ran out to a 17-point edge – going 3-of-4 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the stripe.
But his back began tightening up after intermission, limiting the 10-year veteran to just nine minutes of action in the second half.
Jose Calderon saw limited action in the first two games of the series but drew a DNP-CD on Friday night. Jordan Clarkson assumed some on-ball duties in Game 3, but he’s struggled in each of the first three postseason contests of his young NBA career – going 1-of-4 from the floor with four boards and no assists.
Luckily for Cleveland, Darren Collison – who led the NBA in three-point shooting this season – has been ineffective offensively in Games 1 and 3 – shooting a combined 3-for-16 from the floor in those two contests.
If the Cavaliers hope to get this series back on the tracks – and make waves in the 2018 Playoffs – they’ll have to figure out the head of the snake moving forward.