The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their third game of the series against the Indiana Pacers on Friday, and apart from LeBron James, almost the entire team weakened. James did not consider it appropriate to complain about the other players.
At the post-match press conference, James was told that he again received little scoring support from his team – James himself scored 28 points, 12 rebounds and 8 assists, while his teammates did not make much after the break when Cleveland lost a 17-point lead.
But he wouldn’t complain. “What are you talking about? You think I’m gonna throw my teammates in front of the bus now? I don’t do that,” James said. “We just have to be better, so do I. I had six turnovers today. I was in the third quarter and I didn’t hit anything. “If I’d played a little better, we wouldn’t have lost the lead.”
The Cavs lost the third quarter with 23:12 and afterwards also the game. It still looked good at half-time – but after the break Kevin Love, for example, took only two litters, while George Hill remained without a point after the break. Only these two had scored double figures apart from James.
“We all know that we need to play better as a group, no matter who,” James said. “We got good production at the beginning of the game, and there wasn’t much left in the second half. We still had a chance to win. We need to focus now and find out how we can perform better in game 4.”
For the first time in his 15-year career James is trailing in a first round series with 1-2, so far he has never dropped out in the first round. Game 4 of the series will also take place in Indiana at 2:30 a.m. on Monday night.