Indiana Pacers: 3 takeaways from Game 7 vs. Cavaliers

3. Indiana couldn’t take advantage of Cavs’ big lineup

The Cleveland Cavaliers came out of the gate with a super-sized starting lineup that featured LeBron James playing the point and Tristan Thompson starting at center. Thompson’s insertion into the starting lineup was particularly shocking given that he had only played 23 minutes in the entire series thus far.

The move worked. Thompson did what he does, grabbing five offensive rebounds and setting strong pick after strong pick all game long. He was the beneficiary of several dishes from James, as he repeatedly found Thompson at or near the rim for easy buckets.

On top of going 5-for-6 from the field, the Cavs forgotten man had the same stat line from the charity stripe, a place he usually struggles.

The drawback to playing Thompson with fellow big man Kevin Love was supposed to be on defense, where Indiana should have been able to take advantage and get open looks from the perimeter. That’s exactly what happened…except the Pacers couldn’t make a shot.

Indiana missed its first five 3-point attempts, and by the time Thompson left the game with a little more than a minute to go in the first quarter, the Pacers were down 29-16.