Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 takeaways from Game 3 vs. Pacers
By Ryan Piers
In a surprising loss, the favored Cleveland Cavaliers fell flat in Game 3 against the Indiana Pacers. Here three takeaways from the defeat.
Yikes. That was bad.
The Cleveland Cavaliers entered halftime up 57-40 in Game 3 against the Indiana Pacers. Role players were scoring. LeBron James was well rested. Most Pacers fans probably thought they’d be staring down a 2-1 series deficit by the night’s end.
Then things took a terrible turn for the worse. Cleveland, with an offense comfortably in the top-10 in the NBA since LeBron’s return, scored just 12 points in the third quarter.
After Bojan Bogdanovic drilled a 29-footer to put Indiana up by seven, capping a nine-point run midway through the fourth, things began to feel weird. Like when you go to your favorite restaurant and the food is horrible weird. The offensive juggernaut Cavs weren’t supposed to go cold like that.
Just when you expected James to pull off some last-second heroics, J.R. Smith bricks a contested shot as the clock wound down.
The Cavaliers haven’t felt this uncomfortable in the Eastern Conference since Game 4 of the 2015 semifinals when the Chicago Bulls were up a game with a double-digit lead entering the fourth quarter. Then LeBron went and did this.
The loss to Indiana was one of the bigger gut punches in LeBron’s second run with the Cavs. Here are three takeaways from the contest.