In the most needed win of the Indiana Pacers’ season, the Cleveland Cavaliers crushed their playoff series hopes with a 26 point comeback. At the half, Indiana led 74-49, keeping in mind the biggest theme of this series had been closing out, which Cleveland managed to do in Games 1 & 2. The Pacers had 24 minutes to close out in Game 3, but King James had other plans. The Cleveland Cavaliers took a late lead in the fourth quarter & never let up, defeating the Indiana Pacers 119-114 to take a 3-0 series lead.
LeBron James had another historic night, topping off both of his double-doubles in games 1 & 2, to earn his 17th career playoff triple-double with 41 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists, while shooting 52% for the game. No one else on Cleveland scored over 13 points in the game, with Kevin Love sitting out most of the second half, after only playing 26 minutes.
Paul George had another impressive game with a near triple-double of 36 points, 15 rebounds & 9 assists. His efforts have almost led the Pacers to a win in every game this series (32.3 PPG). Indiana’s shown they’re clearly not fit to compete beyond the first round. Being one loss shy of being swept only validates their status now. Paul George’s efforts can only take this 42-40 team so far.
The Pacers will be looking to extending this series back to Cleveland after Game 4 on Sunday. After playing some of their best basketball in the first three games of this series and still coming up short in all three of them, expect Paul George to try and go out with a bang on Sunday. The Cavaliers have been on top of their game throughout most of this series, LeBron has shown why he’s the greatest player in the NBA still, producing a series average of: 32.7 PPG – 9.7 RPG – 10.7 APG.
Game 4 will be at 1PM/ET on Sunday on ABC, as the Cavs look to advance to the second round.
