Insider: Pacers blow 26-point lead, suffer devastating loss to Cavs
- Game 4: Cavaliers at Pacers, 1 p.m. Sunday, ABC
INDIANAPOLIS — They produced the greatest offensive half in franchise history. They then followed it with a half that made every fan feel nervous, queasy, and ultimately, sick.
The Indiana Pacers had a chance to win Game 3 and establish themselves in their opening-round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. They instead fell 119-114 in the greatest and most devastating postseason collapse in franchise history.
The 25-point halftime lead the Pacers surrendered was the largest in NBA playoff history.
The Cavaliers, the NBA’s defending champions, erased that deficit with a flurry of 3-pointers. They used stingy defense that knocked Paul George and the Pacers out of their rhythm. And they did it with LeBron James, the greatest basketball player of his generation.
In 45 minutes, James elevated his performance as the game progressed, ascended past George’s brilliance and made almost every critical play that resulted in one of the NBA’s greatest playoff comebacks. James carried the Cavaliers with 41 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists for an efficient triple-double. The victory was also James’ 20th consecutive in the first round of the playoffs.
MORE PACERS: Reaction: Pacers squander 25-point halftime lead, fall to Cavs
BOX SCORE: Cavaliers 119, Pacers 114
George was unable to lift the Pacers out of their funk despite a masterful performance that usually ensures a victory: 36 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists. In perhaps the most gut-wrenching postseason loss of his career, George walked off the court at Bankers Life Fieldhouse with his head bowed in disappointment.
“Here we are up (25) to start the second half and a chance to put our foot on their throat and we came out relaxed,” George said. “We didn’t pressure up on the ball and make anything tough. I thought they, again, had stretches where they were just walking into 3-pointers. You can’t do that.”
The Pacers trail 0-3 in the series. No team in league history has recovered from such a deficit. Next for the Pacers is two days to contemplate and examine themselves. Game 4 will be played Sunday in front of a national TV audience.
“We’re playing for pride now,” Jeff Teague said. “We’re all competitors in here and we all believe in one another. We ain’t getting swept.”
DOYEL: Does this team have any pride?
INSIDER: Bankers Life Fieldhouse becomes James' house
Before their fall, the Pacers showed just how potent they can be on offense in the first half. They built their lead without George being the focal point of the offense. He was more of a facilitator as the Cavaliers continued to trap him on the perimeter.
George’s teammates converted their scoring opportunities. Myles Turner collected his own missed jumper from the baseline, and, in three steps, threw down a one-handed tomahawk dunk over Tristan Thompson, the player who had bullied him the previous two games in Cleveland. Lance Stephenson and Kevin Seraphin traded baskets where they scored over James, which pleased the crowd.
George then joined the Pacers’ scoring outburst in the second quarter.
He did his damage before the Cavaliers could force the ball out of his hands. George displayed his offensive powers by scoring 11 consecutive points to extend the Pacers’ lead to 18. He scored in isolation over James. He drove by J.R. Smith, was fouled and converted the free throws. When the Pacers collected offensive rebounds – which they struggled to do in Cleveland – George’s teammates immediately found him on the perimeter for open 3-pointers.
Midway through the quarter, Stephenson inbounded a perfect alley-oop pass to a cutting George for a thunderous two-handed dunk. The crowd roared. James, meanwhile, turned to his teammates and screamed at them in disgust.
When halftime arrived, George had scored almost as many points in the second quarter (21) as the Cavaliers did (22). The Pacers scored 74 points.
“That first half felt like we were a real team,” Stephenson said. “We were playing together, pushing the ball, making the right plays. We were hitting the open guy and having fun.”
After halftime, James changed the game’s tone. The Cavaliers began the third quarter with a 13-3 run. Then they scored 14 consecutive points to cut the Pacers’ lead to six late in the quarter.
“We knew we had to take one of their punches, but they gave us a flurry, more than we expected,” James said. He added: “At halftime, looking at the guys, I said, ‘Let’s just get a couple stops.' We got our composure, we got some stops and we started playing our game.”
The Cavaliers outscored the Pacers 70-40 after halftime by scoring in the most efficient way possible — layups, dunks and 3-pointers.
James began Cleveland’s perimeter barrage by making contested 3-pointers toward the end of the third quarter. He then made assists to a collection of shooters — Smith, Channing Frye and Kyle Korver — who swished 3-pointer after 3-pointer.
“We said when we came out (after halftime) that they were going to start shooting 3s and putting them up,” Teague said of the Cavaliers’ 21 3-pointers. “That’s what they did and they started making them. We didn’t get to the shooters. They got on a roll and it’s hard to guard.”
The Cavaliers, with ruthless precision, shot 55.3 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from behind the arc in the second half.
In order to surround James with four reliable shooters, Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue made a bold move. Lue didn’t play Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving, two All-Stars, in the fourth quarter. Frye scored 13 points and Korver added 12 points.
“They came out swinging and we never responded,” Stephenson said. “They played a heck of a game. It happened so fast. They were just making the right play every possession. They shot a high-percentage shot and we didn’t respond. We just didn’t fight.”
Coach Nate McMillan appeared to aid in the Cavaliers’ rally by trusting his bench too much in the second half. Stephenson, Kevin Seraphin and Glenn Robinson III all made defensive miscues that allowed the Cavaliers to score. The trio also struggled on offense and the Pacers’ ball movement became almost nonexistent.
McMillan reinserted his starters in the fourth quarter, but the Pacers’ shot selection continued to be questionable.
“I saw it getting out of hand,” George said. “I trust the guys on the floor, but I watched it kind of unravel. That’s when I should have stepped in and demanded the ball a little bit more to get us moving and get everybody in a rhythm again. I did a poor job of that.”
James tied the game with an uncontested, driving dunk with less than 7 minutes left. The Cavaliers then striped the ball from George, James finishing the play with a transition dunk that gave Cleveland its first lead since early in the first quarter.
Fry followed with the game’s biggest basket. He swished a 3-pointer with 54.8 second left to give the Cavaliers a seven-point lead.
The sellout crowd began heading for the exits.
“It (stinks),” Teague said. “We should have won this game. We played so well in the first half and we just let it slip in the second. We had them. That was our game and we lost.”
After not addressing his team with a speech after their collapse, McMillan did his best to try to put the Pacers’ next game in perspective.
“Sunday’s game will be a test of our character,” McMillan said. “It just comes down to that. Who will show up to fight and win a game? I expect us to come out Sunday and lay it all on the line for 48 minutes.”
But before they could move forward, the Pacers had to enter their locker room before exiting the arena. The mood inside the room, Stephenson said, was filled with sadness and silence.
“We all was down,” he said. “Really, nobody said nothing. We were just shocked.”
Call IndyStar reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.
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Game 4: Cavaliers at Pacers, 1 p.m. Sunday, ABC