Even in Game 7 loss, Pacers announced their arrival
By CHRIS GOFF
It is the end for the 2017-18 Pacers, because Cleveland’s home-court advantage and LeBron James’ special powers were too much to overcome.
By any objective measure, this was a successful season for Indiana, but there Victor Oladipo was Sunday at Quicken Loans Arena, after a 105-101 defeat to the Cavaliers in Game 7 of their first-round series, not satisfied, not afraid to come out afterward and claim James as a measuring stick.
“He’s the best in the world,” Oladipo said. “Now I’ve got to work so I can get on that level.”
James is a different sort of specimen, something affirmed again when he answered a question on the eve of these playoffs by comparing them to “The Hunger Games.” It was fitting, then, that James munched on orange slices Sunday to fight midgame cramps.
Oladipo and his hungry Pacers gave the fourth-seeded Cavaliers everything they could handle. Cleveland advances to the second round to play No. 1 seed Toronto, but James was forced to put up superhuman numbers to make that happen.
“Kudos and a big shoutout to the Indiana Pacers,” James said. “This was a tough series. Vic – unbelievable jump from last year to this year. He proved he’s a franchise-caliber player. They just got a really good team. They have a well-rounded team, and they definitely pushed us to the brink, basically.”
Indiana’s defensive strategy was to let James get his and take away most of the easy looks he provides for teammates. Guarding the King with a single defender instead of scrambling double-teams, the Pacers forced James to take on a huge burden. He averaged 34 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists in the series, but Cleveland’s other guys often failed to hold up their end of the bargain.
James blew up for 167 points in the four games Cleveland won, but his teammates produced only 240. For the series, J.R. Smith did little of note. Jordan Clarkson was not the postseason X factor the Cavs thought he would be when they acquired him from the Lakers at the trade deadline. Kevin Love didn’t play anywhere close to his All-Star level. Kyle Korver? Rodney Hood? They combined for only 14 points a game.
What does that say about the Pacers? They produced the more complete team effort.
Oladipo’s series averages of 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists weren’t as spectacular as James’ line, but they didn’t have to be. Indiana had six additional players with double-figure scoring averages.
Oladipo shot just 41.7 percent from the field, but most notable, perhaps, was the way he was able to set up teammates. In the series Oladipo had 127 field goal attempts and 42 assists, or one dime for every 3.0 shots – an improvement on his regular-season rate of 4.2.
You can trace the beginning of the end for the Pacers in Game 7 to the start of the fourth quarter when James was on the bench. The Pacers were within 76-74 at the time and had a chance to seize control. Instead, a 10-2 run ensued as Cleveland gained ground without its meal ticket on the floor.
Domantas Sabonis fouled George Hill on a 3-pointer, and Hill made all three free throws. Two possessions later, Love scored from long range for an 82-74 lead, and that was the beginning of the end for the visitors.
Cleveland had struck first, taking a 31-19 lead at the end of the first quarter, and James scored 26 points in the first half as the Cavs led by as many as 14 before settling for a 54-43 lead at intermission.
But the Pacers are relentless – the one constant in all four of their losses this series was they fought to keep the outcome in doubt until the final minute – and, sure enough, Indiana had a three-point lead with 6:38 remaining in the third quarter.
The No. 5 seed wasn’t about to panic after a slow start. For inspiration, the Pacers needed only to recall their amazing track record of comeback wins. Eight times this season they rallied from 15 points or more behind to win.
When Oladipo started Game 7 slowly, missing all four of his shots in the opening period, he just kept plugging away.
The Cavs have to feel like they escaped this series; the Pacers feel aggravated that they let a great opportunity get away. They had a blown call go against them in Game 5 – plus one unbelievable shot by James – but Indiana may rue the chances it had down the stretch of Game 4 to go up 3-1.
Sure, the ending hurts, but the Pacers had nothing to lose this year. They made the reigning three-time Eastern Conference champions sweat for seven games.
“If y’all don’t respect the Indiana Pacers now, I have no respect for you,” Oladipo said. “Nobody thought we were going to be here. No one. Not one person.”
Not only were they in the playoffs, but the expectation is they’ll be coming back here for quite a while. All five starters are 30 or younger, and their long-term building blocks (Oladipo, Sabonis and Myles Turner) are 25 or younger.
Yes, Game 7 was an end, but this group might look back at “the moment we’ve created,” in Oladipo’s words, as more of a springboard.
