Indiana Pacers: 3 reasons the season is over

1. LeBron James being LeBron James

LeBron James may have had some ugly flops and a decent amount of help from the referees in Game 7, but the bottom line is he still has it — that something that has made his presence in “Greatest of All Time” conversations more and more undeniable.

For Pacers Nation, it is going to be really hard to digest the fact that the NBA admitted missing a key call in LeBron’s goaltending in the final seconds of Game 5 on Victor Oladipo’s shot, only to award him a key goaltending call in the final minutes of Game 7.

The truth is that respect is due. LeBron James, like Michael Jordan did countless times to countless special teams, has ruined the championship hopes of plenty of NBA stars and ensembles.

Ironically enough, he has done so this time with a limited ensemble behind him. Simply put, he is climbing that “Greatest of All Time” list before all of our eyes, and there’s very little amount of tampering claims that could take away from that truth.

He is the simplest reason the Pacers are going home, as his 34.4 points, 10.0 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game for the series — including a 45-8-7-4 stat line in the decisive Game 7 — powered the Cavs to victory against an arguably superior team.

Next: Full two-round 2018 NBA Mock Draft

However, it was a great run for an Indiana Pacers expected to tank this season, and as illustrated by Victor Oladipo’s texts to his trainer, the future is clearly bright for this team.