LeBron barely carries listless Cavaliers past Indiana: 3 takeaways
“Playoff LeBron” was alive and well Wednesday night, fortunately for his team.
In unfamiliar territory — trailing in a first round playoff series — LeBron James wasted no time asserting himself in Game 2 of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ matchup with the Indiana Pacers. James was aggressive from the jump, as he spearheaded Cleveland’s attack with a 20-point first quarter, which included scoring the first 16 Cavaliers points. It didn’t matter who the Pacers sent at him, James was not going to be deterred.
While James has proven he needs no help when he takes over games, it didn’t hurt that Game 1 stud Victor Oladipo was sent to the bench early after picking up two fouls within the opening two minutes of Game 2. The Pacers were lost without their leader and fell behind 33-18 at the end of the first quarter.
However, as they have done all season long, Indiana stormed back and made it a tightly contested game down the stretch, even getting a wide open 3-point attempt from Oladipo to tie the game in the final 30 seconds. Oladipo’s game-tying 3-pointer missed and Cleveland held on to win the game, 100-97, evening the series at one before it shifts to Conseco Fieldhouse on Friday night.
Here’s three takeaways from the LeBron-led, much needed victory for Cleveland in Game 2:
Takeaways
100 percent LeBron is 100 percent unstoppable: We’ve seen LeBron’s stature in the NBA grow over the course of his career. Fifteen years in and there’s still no one that can slow him down when he’s going his hardest. In Game 1, LeBron tried to get his teammates involved early, only to see the Pacers build a huge lead that the Cavaliers could never overcome. James did a 180 in Game 2, establishing himself as a driving force early and giving the Cavaliers an insurmountable lead with his 20-point opening quarter.
Bojan Bogdanovic was one of the most successful defenders against LeBron in the regular season, but James showed tonight that when he’s locked in, there is no one on Indiana — or the NBA in general — that can keep him from getting where he wants on the floor. James would finish with 46 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals. He could match those numbers on any given night moving forward in this series, and it seems as though these are the performances that Cleveland will need from him if they are to advance to the next round.
Fouls are dumb: As mentioned in the opening of this post, Oladipo was forced to the bench early with two quick fouls. Neither foul was a poor call (a charge against Kyle Korver and shoving through a James screen), but it forced Pacers head coach Nate McMillan to keep his star player on the bench for just about the entirety of the first quarter. Oladipo finished the game as a plus-11 in 28 minutes. Missing the better part of the opening quarter had a big impact on Game 2’s outcome.
The real issue came on Oladipo’s third foul, which he picked up in the second quarter. Kevin Love caught the ball in the corner on a fast break and Oladipo closed out to his left. Love pump faked, and as Oladipo passed by him, he jumped directly into Oladipo and got the call. Oladipo didn’t initiate the contact and Love’s move was not anything resembling his natural shooting motion. Kurt Helin of NBC’s ProBasketballTalk tweeted that the NBA had informed referees to avoid making calls like this earlier in the season. However, this call needs to be outlawed entirely. If Kevin Durant’s rip-through move prompted a rule change, this exaggerated lean-in from Love needs to be amended as well.
The switch hasn’t been flipped: Cleveland held the Pacers to just 97 points in Game 2, on par with the 98 they allowed in Game 1. For a team that surrendered 112 points per game during the regular season, these totals would appear to be a huge improvement. All the talk about the Cavaliers defensively have been about whether or not they could turn up the defensive intensity in the postseason to allow them to make a prolonged run through the playoffs.
Two games in, and that still hasn’t been the case.
The Pacers were one of the slowest teams in the NBA in terms of pace this season. They are not built to put up high-point totals. They slow the pace and beat you with methodical plays and shrewd basketball. Game 2’s low total was bolstered by Oladipo’s absence in the first quarter, resulting in just 18 points for Indiana. They gave up 79 points over the remaining three quarters, though, including a game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter.
Next: Pelicans steal another win in Portland: 3 takeaways
Cleveland has relied more on outscoring their opponents than getting stops. With Indiana limiting possessions, the Cavaliers are forced to be more efficient with their scoring and so far only LeBron has proven capable of that.