The Cleveland Cavaliers held a 17-point halftime lead over the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of their first round series, and looked like they could take a 2-1 lead if they sustained their level of play and Indiana sustained theirs. Unfortunately, everything the Cavs needed to do to lose, they did. They coughed up the ball more, they allowed easy baskets to the Pacers, and they found themselves struggling score in the second half.
They were outscored 44-20 from the start of the fourth quarter until there were less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter. James scored 15 points in the second half, including 12 straight points in the fourth quarter when the Pacers made their run and no other Cavs player could find the bottom of the net. After scoring 16 points in the first half, Kevin Love finished with 19 for the game. After scoring 11 points in the first half, George Hill finished with 13 for the game. J.R. Smith had five in the first half and three in the second. Kyle Korver didn’t make a field goal in 20 scoreless minutes of action.
After a terrific first half, the Cavs other guys struggled to make a basket and LeBron James was too passive while making a couple of bad decisions leading to a game-high 6 turnovers. At the conclusion of the game, James met with the media, and was asked if there was anything he could do to get his supporting cast to play better. Needless to say, the Cavs star wasn’t having any of it.
James has a lot of confidence in his teammates, and a lot of them are simply still struggling to find their role as the team never really got a chance to build some chemistry together in the regular season. Thus, some roles are undefined and some players still don’t know what they can do best to help the team.
The Cavs will have little time to figure things out as they have to prepare for Game 4 in Indiana on Sunday afternoon.