Indiana Pacers: 3 takeaways from Game 6 vs. Cavaliers

3. Pacers let it fly

On the season, only the lowly Sacramento Kings and Chicago Bulls allowed more 3-point makes per night than the Cavs. Their shoddy perimeter defense reared its ugly head once again on Friday night.

For the game, the Pacers made half the 3s they attempted, going 15-for-30 from downtown, including 9-of-12 from the starting backcourt of Darren Collison and Victor Oladipo. Those two each had a couple makes during a third quarter in which Indiana took 11 shots from long range and made seven. If this were late-90s SportsCenter, they were most certainly en fuego.

While they deserve a ton of the credit, this came against a Cleveland team that looked like it let go of the rope a bit when things got tough. This has not exactly been a high-character Cavs squad, and that showed itself in a quarter where they were ultimately outscored 35-20, putting a closeout game out of reach.

Part of the problem was their inability to stop two players in particular, neither of which was on the team 12 months ago…