The Cleveland Cavaliers are back in pole position! In game 5, Cleveland beat the Indiana Pacers 98:95 (BOXSCORE). For this, however, LeBron James had to do another fabulous job.
The Cavaliers again had to do without George Hill, who suffered from back problems, as in game 4 he was represented by Jose Calderon as starter, otherwise Ty Lue did not change his lineup. But Cleveland didn’t come along like a well-rehearsed unit at the beginning. The transition defense did not fit, Indiana attacked Calderon several times and took a 15:9 lead when Cleveland put eight rolls in a row on the ring.
The Cavs also fouled too much, including LeBron James, who unnecessarily fouled Victor Oladipo in the threesome. Indiana collected a lot of free points and partially set himself down to 10 points. By the end of the quarter, however, James had seen enough for now – with a personal 6-0 run he brought Cleveland back to 23-25.
The second round was very similar. First everything was close together, then Indiana made an 11-3 run and led more clearly again – and then James answered again. This time, however, Cleveland didn’t get that close. Despite a total of 20 James points at the break, the Pacers took a 56:49 lead into the Locker Room.
This did not last long, however, as Cleveland opened the second half with a 9-0 run and regained the lead after four minutes. The Pacers stumbled – the turnovers piled up and Oladipo just couldn’t find a way into the game. Quite different James – the King scored or assisted in all points of a 17:3-run of the Cavaliers. Kevin Love’s free throws gave the Cavs their first 10-point lead. This lasted into the final seconds, but a threesome with Lance Stephenson’s siren brought Indiana back to 73:81.
The Pacers tried to take this momentum with them in the last quarter. At first it seemed as if it wasn’t enough to make a comeback – but 33.6 seconds before the end Sabonis actually made up for the match. LeBron dribbled the ball on his foot and out in the next attack, so the Pacers had control again. Oladipo moved to the basket – but James immediately ironed out his mistake and pin the layup to the board via chasedown block. Three seconds, time-out Cleveland! Of course, the litter belonged to James – and he met him. Game five went to Cleveland, the arena raged. James jumped euphorically onto the Scorers Table and was celebrated accordingly.
LeBron finished the game with a scary 44 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, hitting 14 of his 24 throws from the field and 15/15 from the free-throw line. Korver (19) and Love (11, plus 10 rebounds) were the only other cavs in double figures. Topscorer of the Pacers was Sabonis with 22 points, Oladipo scored 12 points and 12 rebounds (2/15 FG).
Game 6 of the series will take place next Saturday in Indianapolis (live on DAZN). The exact time has not yet been announced.
Cleveland Cavaliers v Indiana Pacers 98:95, Series 3:2 (BOXSCORE)
LeBron James. Who else? One may rightly criticize how James sometimes appears in the defense, but his offense is and remains from another star. Like a running back he went to the basket again and again in this game and cleared everything in his way – sometimes literally. As usual, he gave his team a lot of outstanding looks. And when he should have been completely flat, he first blocked Oladipo’s potential game winner and then did it better himself. Any other wishes?
Victor Oladipo. He did force some free throws at the end of the game, but that couldn’t gloss over Oladipo’s bad day. The Pacers star only hit 2 of his 15 litters and missed partly even completely open threesomes. His backcourt partner Darren Collison didn’t make it any better (4 points, 1/5 FG).
The Cavaliers focused on taking Oladipo out of play until the final seconds. Although the All-Star himself didn’t hit anything, they sent double teams in his direction every time he had the ball and planned his next move. In fact, they helped the Pacers with it: The double player was often Love, who then left the Cavs’ most dangerous player in Sabonis blank on the free-throw line that day. With exactly such a “move”, he made up for the match 33.6 seconds before the end.