All season long, Pacers coach Nate McMillan had preached the "Three Cs" to his team.
Calm.
Clear.
Consistent.
After watching New England come from a seemingly insurmountable deficit to win the Super Bowl on Sunday, he added two more.
Connected.
Confident.
After watching his team turn a 15-point first-quarter lead into a 15-point loss, 132-117, to Cleveland, he no doubt could find some other C words to describe what happened at Bankers Life Fieldhouse Wednesday night.
Confounding? Casual?
The Pacers rode into the game on a seven-game winning streak, only to be reminded of what happens when you let up or mess up against the elite teams. The Cavaliers took command with a 40-18 advantage in the third quarter, when they hit 13-of-20 shots and dominated in every respect.
"We fell apart, man," Myles Turner said. "We can't have letups like that going down the end of the season."
The Pacers can find positives in the loss, which left them with a 29-23 record. It only counted as one, for starters. It came against the defending champions and the best team in the Eastern Conference. And, they proved they can score against that team even with uneven execution.
Shooting 50 percent from the field and scoring 117 points should be enough to win a game, but not when you have no solution for a stand-still shooter who scores 29 points in 26 minutes off the bench. Kyle Korver, who turns 36 next month, tied his career high with eight 3-pointers in just nine attempts with barely flinching a muscle other than in his right wrist.
He was the end result of a Cavs offense that moved the ball carefully and crisply, putting the Pacer defense on a merry-go-round that never could seem to reach its intended destination. Even when they did get a hand up on Korver, he buried a shot over them. Or faked and took a step and hit again.
Korver was obtained from Atlanta on Jan. 7 for Mike Dunleavy, Mo Williams and a protected 2019 first-round pick. His performance on Wednesday showed why the Cavs wanted him, and that they know what to do with him. It got to the point the fans in The Fieldhouse were screaming in anguish as he released the ball, knowing their fate.
"There's nothing that gets a shooter open more than having other shooters like we do with LeBron (James) and Kyrie (Irving)," Korver said. "It's pick your poison, and tonight I was able to find my rhythm and knock some shots down."
The Cavs' offense was initiated by either Irving, who scored 29 points, or James, who scored 27. They know how to draw double-teams with penetration, and once that happened the Pacers' defense was in scramble mode.
"It's a huge challenge," coach Nate McMillan said. "You're going to give up layups, or if anything, contested (shots). They're capable of shooting a three, but they'll bury you with (Tristan) Thompson rolling to the basket. Our rules are, we defend the paint and we get out to the 3-point shooters. That's a tough challenge when you have Kyrie or LeBron James running the pick and roll."
Paul George blamed the Pacers' defense for not defending pick-and-rolls more aggressively, but there was more to the loss than nuances such as that. The Pacers, as they have done often this season, failed to maintain their execution with their comfortable lead.
That was evident 15 seconds into the third quarter. The Pacers still led by six points at halftime, but James scored easily on a lob pass from Irving on Cleveland's first possession of the third period. Lavoy Allen then made a casual inbound pass without looking, which Cavs guard DeAndre Liggins intercepted and turned into a three-point play after drawing a foul from Allen on the layup.
Just like that, the Pacers' lead was down to one. Cleveland went on to score 21 points in the first four minutes of the second half, without any help from Korver, as the Pacers grew stagnant at both ends of the court.
"You don't want to get complacent," said C.J. Miles, who led the Pacers with 23 points while hitting 6-of-9 3-pointers. "You know there's a run coming. They're the champs for a reason. They have two of the best basketball players in the world (James and Irving), and Kevin Love is no slouch, either. They all do their job. They understand what they're supposed to do and they do it."
The Pacers feel they have a better understanding of what they need to do as well. Just in case they were feeling too good about themselves before this game, they will be in a grounded frame of mind heading to Washington for Friday's game against another team ahead of them in the conference standings.
George believes their performance in that game will be telling.
"If we're serious about where we want to get to, we'll respond," he said. "That's what I want to see. If we're serious about who we are and who we want to be, Friday will mean a lot to us."
In other words, it's another C word: crucial.
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