INDIANAPOLIS — Twenty-five thoughts for a 25-point halftime deficit in the 119-114 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 on Thursday of their first-round playoff series …
1. His eyes heavy and his movements slow and measured, LeBron James sat relaxed in the corner of the Pacers’ visiting locker room after one of those nights, one of those historic nights, one of those historic nights when he reminded us he is Goliath and no stone slung in this series can reach his skull.
Advertisement
2. James sat wrapped in a towel, content to let the hustle and bustle of the winning locker room carry on around him. As time dragged on, as James, Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson sat in the locker room 15 minutes after the last bus was scheduled to depart the arena, one Pacers employee entered, then another.
3. “Paul will be ready in five minutes,” they said as Cavs media relations workers looked at James. He barely had progressed from a towel to starting to put his pants on.
4. “Let him go,” was the response, and finally Paul George beat LeBron at something on this night, this historic night. He beat James to the podium.
5. In his legacy of greatness, nothing will match what James did to the Golden State Warriors in Games 5, 6 and 7 last year. Beyond that, however, what he did to the Pacers on Thursday is in the conversation among his greatest playoff performances.
6. Sure, there was his Game 6 display at Boston as a member of the Miami Heat and his dazzling fourth quarter at Detroit when he dragged the Cavs to the NBA Finals in 2007. Both of those performances came in later rounds, and once when his team was facing elimination. His body of work during the 2015 Finals, when he had little around him and still nearly took down the Warriors by himself, is also among his greatest entries. Fair enough.
7. But James did something on this night no other team has accomplished — sound familiar? This wasn’t quite 3-1 in the Finals, but the Cavs trailed by 25 at the half Thursday and led by seven when it was over, completing the largest comeback from a halftime deficit in NBA playoff history.
8. And he did it with a triple-double of 41 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists. And he did it while playing with a bench crew he knocked three months earlier when he called the roster “top heavy as shit.” But let’s let bygones be bygones.
Advertisement
9. “He still amazes me,” Kyrie Irving said. “He does unbelievable things.”
10. Including scoring or assisting on 73 points Thursday night, a new playoff high for him. Including running his winning streak in the first round to 20 consecutive victories. Including running his record to 27 consecutive postseason series with a win on the road. Including passing Kobe Bryant for third place on the postseason scoring list, leaving just Michael and Kareem in front of him. Yes, Kyrie, he most certainly does unbelievable things.
11. But there’s the rub: He insists he doesn’t appreciate it. Not yet, anyway. There will come a day, he believes, when he’ll crack open a bottle of red and sit on a porch somewhere and reminisce. But today isn’t the day and now isn’t the time.
12. Even on this night, this historic night when 17,923 people left heartbroken, James insists he can’t take five minutes to appreciate what he’s done.
13. “I can’t even sit up here and say I can,” James said. “One thing I do know is that we had a huge halftime deficit and were able to come back and win the game. I didn’t know it was the biggest comeback or things of that nature. For myself, I just try to put myself in position to help my teammates win, no matter who’s on the floor with me. Try to empower them. Try to make them better, try to make them believe we can be great every night. No matter who’s on the floor with me and for myself, I just don’t settle for being not as great as I can be. It’s not going to result in a stat line like this every night. When my mind is fresh and in the moment, sometimes certain things like this happen, so I don’t know. I can’t even really appreciate it. I’ll let you guys write your words about it and go from there. Only thing that matters is a win and that’s what I’m here for.”
14. As the lead swelled to 20 in the first half, I looked at Cavs.com beat writer Joe Gabriele and said, “The Cavs are going to win this, aren’t they?” Joe nodded in agreement. He never doubted it.
Advertisement
15. They had to spot the Pacers 26 points first and they still trailed by 20 after Lance Stephenson’s 3-pointer with 4:37 left in the third, but even the players believed. Channing Frye said he never doubted they’d rally. Love said the same. Everything that could possibly go wrong for the Cavs in the second quarter did. And more important, this team only knows the hardest, most complicated path to victory. There’s a reason Tyronn Lue loves craps so much in the Vegas casinos: This team does everything the hard way.
16. “We never lost our composure,” Lue said. “We stayed with the game plan. LeBron willed us home.”
anyone whose team has had their souls ripped out by LeBron at some point feels the pain in this man’s eyes pic.twitter.com/MOKHYXJG51
— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) April 21, 2017
17. The Pacers handled the Cavs’ doubling of George much better than they did in Game 2. George passed out of the double teams faster during the first half, and the Pacers seemed to do a better job of getting the ball to the weak side and finding the open man. They also shot the ball extraordinarily well.
18. Lance Stephenson made three of his first four shots, Thaddeus Young started hot, and Myles Turner had a thunderous putback dunk over Tristan Thompson. Then the momentum began shifting.
19. It’s clear the Cavs don’t mind Stephenson shooting. They’re going to go under on screens and give him plenty of space to launch. And if he makes the first couple, all the better. They don’t believe it’s sustainable. Stephenson ended the night missing eight of his last nine shots.
20. The Cavs switched up their defensive schemes in the second half and eventually got back to blitzing George with better results. The Pacers couldn’t get many clean looks in the second half and missed the ones they did. George, who had 36 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists in a losing effort, blamed himself for not being more aggressive at the start of the third quarter when the Cavs started piecing together a comeback.
21. “Early on in the third, I saw it getting out of hand,” George said. “As I watched it unravel, that’s when I should have stepped in and demanded the ball a little more, get us moving, get it flowing, get everybody in rhythm again, engage everybody once again. I did a poor job of that to start the third.”
Advertisement
22. And to end the third. George went scoreless in the quarter, missing all five shots he took. The Cavs kept telling themselves on the bench to just get it manageable going into the fourth. They cut the 25-point deficit to seven. They had the lead midway through the fourth, and by that point, the Pacers had little chance of recovering.
23. Given how Game 1 ended and the deficit they faced at halftime of this one, the Cavs could easily be down 2-1 in this series. Instead they’re looking for yet another sweep Sunday. And given how the rest of the East is playing out, that’s worth something. The Nos. 1 and 3 seeds are in danger of going out in the first round, and the Cavs keep whistling along.
24. George is averaging 32.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 7.7 assists in this series, but all it has gotten him is a 3-0 deficit and the very real chance his season ends Sunday, just like the last four opponents to face James in the first round. Eventually James will lose a game in the first round again, but this game wasn’t it and now wasn’t that time. He’s still the greatest in the game.
25. “He just willed his team and said, ‘I’ll put you guys on my back,’ ” Lue said. And then he did. That’s what Goliaths do. Talk to you Sunday after Game 4.