It doesn’t matter what seed you give LeBron James in the playoffs, his perfect 1st round record of 12-0 may never be broken. The Cavs took command of game 4 on Sunday by rarely ever losing their lead. The Pacers managed to get their first lead since being ahead 28-27 in the second quarter, after Thaddeus Young made a clutch bucket to give Indiana a 102-100 lead with under 2:00 minutes to go.
With Cleveland already having a terrible night from 3 point range (29%), LeBron James isos the ball with 6’11” Myles Turner (18 Pts) defending him and hits his first & only 3 with 1:08 left in the game to take the lead 103-102. That shot would become the game winner, as the Cavaliers went on to win 106-102 to sweep the Pacers in the first round.
Kevin Love had another bad shooting game (15% FG), but came up big on the boards with 16 rebounds. Kyrie Irving made his presence known with 28 points, while the King had the game-high of 33 points, along with 10 rebounds for his 3rd double-double of the series.
The Indiana Pacers made a great run by staying close in every game this series (never lost by more than 6 points). Their team efforts were never enough facing against the defending champion Cavaliers. Paul George had a strong first 3 games with averages of 32.3 PPG & 9.3 RPG on 43% FG. Unfortunately for George, his elite start to the series ended in tragic fashion as his game 4 shooting was underwhelming wth 15 points on 24% FG. Lance Stephenson, only playing 30 minutes was one of their most consistent offensive scorers with 22 points while shooting 9-15 FG.
As the Cavs advance to the second round to face the winner of Toronto v Milwaukee (2-2), they’ll face a much more well rounded offense in this round with Toronto or a young team full of surprises in the Bucks. Indiana is at a tough spot with 4x All-Star Paul George having a player option in next year’s free agency. They haven’t been a very successful team since George’s leg injury in 2014. They’ve went 87-77 in the past two seasons, it may be time to stick to the youth & add more young players to build their roster up for years later when the “LeBron era” comes to an end.
With the poor job Toronto has displayed in the first round & Milwaukee’s inexperience, the Cavs should expect a similar result next round against either team. The Cavaliers are clicking again and playoff LeBron has shown why he’s undoubtedly the greatest player in the NBA. It’ll be tough for any Eastern Conference opponent to knock off this hot Cavs team, expect Cleveland to win next round in 4 or 5 games.
