4-20-18 at Pacers

clejsykes

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Wrap-Up -- They say that turnabout is fair play. And on Friday night in Indiana, the Pacers did to the Cavaliers what was done to them in Game 3 last spring – wiping out a major second-half deficit to pull off a stunning win.

The Cavaliers scored just 33 points after intermission, allowing the Pacers to erase a 17-point halftime edge and pull off the 92-90 win – taking a 2-1 lead in their First Round matchup with a pivotal Game 4 slated for Sunday night.

The Wine &amp; Gold looked sharp in the first half – shooting 54 percent, getting a combined 29 points from LeBron James and Kevin Love and holding the Pacers to just 40 points.

But things started going south in the third quarter.

In that third period, Cleveland scored a grand total of 12 points, shooting just 26 percent while going 1-for-10 from beyond the arc. Rodney Hood was the only Cavalier with more than one field goal. The Pacers weren’t great in the period, but still outscored the Cavs by nine – setting up a wild final 12 minutes.

Early in the fourth, the Pacers used a 12-4 run to tie the game at 75-apiece with 8:38 to play on Victor Oladipo’s two free throws. They would tie it again at 77 when Bogdan Bogdanovic canned a pair of back-to-back three-pointers (including a four-point play on the first) – giving the Pacers a seven-point edge with 5:41 remaining.

LeBron drilled back-to-back triples on the Wine &amp; Gold’s next two possessions to get them back to within a point, and his free throw seconds later tied the game back up at 84.

Bogdanovic hit another triple as the Pacers went back up by seven with less than a minute to go. But three-pointers by LeBron and Kevin Love got Cleveland to within one, 91-90, with 7.7 to play.

Darren Collison split a pair of free throws on Indy’s next possession, however, and JR Smith’s desperation heave at the buzzer missed everything to seal the deal.

”(The Pacers) capitalized on our turnovers and we missed shots as well – and they were able to get out and run, get in transition, and get some clean looks, like the ones that Bogdanovic got,” said Rodney Hood, who led all Cavalier reserves with eight points. “He really hurt us.”

LeBron led the Cavaliers with 28 points, going 10-for-22 from the floor, including 4-of-7 from long-range, adding a game-highs in rebounds (12) and assists (8). On the negative side of the ledger, James committed six of Cleveland’s 17 miscues that the Pacers converted into 24 points.

Kevin Love followed up with 19 points, but he notched 16 of those before intermission – with his final three points coming on a bomb from the corner with 7.7 seconds to play. The five-time All-Star added six boards and a steal, but also committed four turnovers in the loss.

George Hill, the only other Cavalier in double-figures, also did his work early – netting nine of his 13 points in the first quarter. On the night, Hill went 4-for-6 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the stripe.

For the third straight game, the Wine &amp; Gold had just three players net double-figures. And once again, Cleveland’s bench – a strong suit all season – was relatively ineffective, combining for just 22 points.

Kevin Love adds 19 points but it's not enough in Indy.

”In the second half, being up 17, we just can’t let that happen; you can’t let a team come back like this,” lamented Coach Tyronn Lue. “I thought they hit us first, hit us early, giving up that three-point shot to Oladipo to start the quarter…we’ve got to be better than that to take that shot away.”

Bogdanovic went on to lead both squads with 30 points – including 15 in the fourth quarter – going 11-for-15 from the floor, including 7-of-9 from beyond the arc. Victor Oladipo followed up with 18 points and seven assists – but he shot the ball poorly all night, going just 5-of-15 from the floor, 1-of-8 from three-point range.

Turning Point -- There’s a big picture and small picture way of looking at Friday’s turning point.

Big picture – the turning point was Cleveland’s anemic third-quarter performance on the offensive end, with the starters going 3-for-14 from the floor, attempting just a single free throw and turning the ball over seven times.

Small picture – a single play, Bojan Bogdanovic’s four-point play halfway thorugh the fourth quarter, electrifying the crowd and giving the Pacers life and their first lead since the midway point of the first period.

The Cavaliers still fought back to tie – but never lead – the pivotal affair for the rest of the night.

By the Numbers – 100 … career postseason double-doubles for LeBron James after finishing with 28 points and 12 boards. He fell two points shy of netting his 100th 30-point Playoff game, where he’ll join Michael Jordan as the only players to reach triple-digits in that category.

Quotable – LeBron James, on Sunday’s critical Game 4 in Indiana …

”It’s the postseason. Every game is a must-win. You want to come in and play well and win no matter what. No matter if you have homecourt advantage or if you’re starting on the road, that’s the mindset you have to have. I felt like today was a must win. We didn’t win, obviously, but it’s the same mindset on Sunday.”

Up Next -- After dropping Game 3 to the Pacers on Friday night in Indy, the Wine &amp; Gold will attempt to tie the series on Sunday night (8:30 p.m.) at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The series then shifts back to Cleveland for Game 5 on Wednesday night (7 p.m.) at The Q. If the series continues from there, it’s back to Indianapolis for Game 6 next Friday night (4/27). If the First Round goes the distance, it wraps up one week from this Sunday (4/29) back in Cleveland.

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4‑20‑18 at Pacers