Again, LeBron James’ outstanding energy performance was just enough to equalize the series against the Indiana Pacers 2-2. The 104:100 (boxing) victory of the Cleveland Cavaliers was in great danger until the last minutes.
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue had to change his starting line-up before game 4 – George Hill had to retire due to back problems. For him, Jose Calderon was in the top five. In the initial phase, two quick fouls for Kevin Love were added to the personnel problems, which sent him to the bench early on. So Tristan Thompson came after the banishment to the bench to his first real employment in the series.
Both teams were nervous and hectic in their offensive actions. But then LeBron James took the reins and kept pulling unstoppably into the zone. James put the Cavs on course with 11 points and also put his team-mates to excellent use. J. R. Smith scored two threesomes and then took the buzzer beater and the 30:24 lead just before the end of the first quarter with a throw from the centre line.
In the second heat, Jordan Clarkson provided the long-awaited relief from the bench with 8 points in addition to the still shining James. Clarkson took a 16-point lead for the Cavs with a successful three-pointer, but Darren Collison and Myles Turner each held against with 5 points and narrowed the gap. In the last four minutes before half-time the Cavs could not score a successful field goal – but that was mainly due to the fact that LeBron was repeatedly sent to the line by the Pacers during his aggressive drives.
Victor Oladipo continued to enjoy the full attention of the Cavs and was usually doubled quickly – but his fellow players made efficient use of the freedoms that resulted. Indiana started the second half with a 10-2 run and after only 2 points in the first half, Bojan Bogdanovic ran hot with 8 points in 90 seconds. James was left without field goal in the third quarter and the Cavs-Offense seemed disorganized overall. The Pacers narrowed the gap to 78:80 and Cleveland were lucky that the Pacers missed some promising litters.
With his first successful trio in the series, Domantas Sabonis took the first Pacers lead in the early stages of the final quarter since Indiana took 3-2. A visibly tired and frustrated LeBron then let himself be carried away with a push against Lance Stephenson to commit a technical foul that put the Pacers 92:89 in the lead. Immediately afterwards James scored his first throw from the field in the second half.
After a few misthrows on both sides, the Cavaliers scored four times in a row with two Korver threesomes and two successful James drives, set themselves down to 101:95 and thus ensured the alleged preliminary decision. Korver held the 6-point lead after two free throws and 14 seconds to play, but then Oladipo scored from outside and Lance Stephenson forced a jump ball after the Cavs threw in. The decision of the referee trio was checked several times on the monitor and finally a foul against Stephenson was whistled, which finally decided the game for the Cavaliers.
With 32 points (12/22 FG), 13 rebounds and 7 assists in 46 minutes played James made another hussar ride. Kyle Korver, who became the co-matchwinner in the final phase with his threesomes, was second best scorer of the Cavs with 18 (4/9 3FG). Clarkson and Smith each contributed 12 – Kevin Love got a miserable litter evening (5, 2/10 FG).
Victor Oladipo fought with several double teams and therefore also with his litter. With 17 points and a weak roll rate (5/20) he showed his weakest game of the series. Nevertheless, his presence opened many rooms, which were mainly used by Sabonis (19, 9/12 FG) and Turner (17, 7/9 FG). Stephenson was also one of the better Indiana players with 11 points and a lot of energy from the bank.
The relief for the Cavs could not be overlooked after the game. All in all, the guests again showed a more than mixed performance and could finally consider themselves lucky to have balanced the series. James and parts of the Cavs squad have experience with 1-3 deficits in a play-off series, but of course the Cavs would have been a clear outsider in the rest of the series after a defeat – because historically, a comeback after such a deficit is an absolute rarity.
Indiana Pacers v Cleveland Cavaliers 100:104, Series 2:2 (BOXSCORE)
With his fourth trio in the game, Kyle Korver became the 18th player in NBA history to achieve 200 triples in his play-off career.
For the first time in the series, three other Cavs players, Korver, Smith and Clarkson, scored double-digit points.
LeBron James (Cavaliers): “33 different starting line-ups in one season – that’s not easy. And we have to go through the whole thing during a playoff series. But we are a resilient force and our bank has done an excellent job today. We are confident that we will take the lead at home – but we have to clean up a few things.”
LeBron James. No great explanation necessary. James could not hide his tiredness and also played a weak second half until shortly before the end – but in crunchtime he regained control of the game and again presented his clutch qualities.
Bojan Bogdanovic. Many would probably see Oladipo here – in direct comparison, however, despite his throwing problems, he had a much greater effect on his team’s game. With only 10 points in 13 litter attempts and a questionable choice of litters, the Serb was disappointing.
Tyron Lue adhered to the plan outlined in Game 3 to force Oladipo to pass the ball as often as possible. The All-Star of the Pacers was consistently doubled in the Pick’n’Roll and even if Oladipo was able to pull to the basket, usually a Cavs wall stood in front of him. The plan finally paid off – too often the cavs doubled too much and left a shooter of the pacers completely open or had a huge gap under the basket. The fine-tuning of defensive arrangements will certainly be a big issue before the next home game.