A series of missed free throws resulted for the Cavs' lead to be narrowed while Pacers shooting guard, Lance Stephenson nearly made every shot he attempted on the fourth quarter.
Following the Indiana Pacers 117-111 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday night, Pacers star Paul George took aim at teammates Lance Stephenson and Myles Turner while answering questions from reporters. Although the Cavs have never lost the previous 12 playoff series when they took a 2-0 lead, George thinks the Pacers can rally from the seemingly daunting deficit.
He searched for ways to describe what the Cleveland Cavaliers' Big 3 had just done to his Indiana Pacers.
After giving up a late lead and squeaking out the opener by just a point, James and Co. showed more intensity on defense and held on to win their 10th straight first-round game over the past three seasons. "We'll figure it out".
Kyrie Irving ripped the Pacers apart with 37 points, including a career play-off-best 25 in the second half.
Eventually, a third attempt at drawing an offensive foul was successful, as Love absorbed the knee of the 6-foot-9, 285 pound Kevin Seraphin. Paul George and the Pacers, which is 7th best team in the East, was previously predicted to play against then-number two seed, Boston Celtics. Guard, Jeff Teague, chipped in 23 points for the visiting team.
In Game 2, the Pacers trailed by 16 points entering the final quarter and midway through the fourth and they cut it down to five points, 109-104 with 2:28 to go in the ball game. It was a called a block and Teague, despite clutching his right hand with his left, went to the line and knocked down both free throws.
Griffin powers Clippers past Jazz
Looking at the Jazz, they likely needed to win this game to have a realistic chance to win the series after quickly losing Gobert. While Gobert will definitely be missed, at least the Jazz have had a couple practices to prepare to play without him.
Head coach Tyronn Lue said Love's momentum outweighed that of his defender. "We have to keep that up every single night. We understand that, but we've got to be smart also".
James, who turned the ball over three times in Game 1, had eight of Cleveland's 19 turnovers in Game 2 on Monday night. That took away chances for the Pacers to possibly erase their bad second half play as a whole, resulting in a well-deserved Game 2 loss and an 0-2 series deficit.
"My guys dug in that game and earned the right to be in that game - and they did not even give us a chance". Iman Shumpert, who sat the opener, replaced Smith and played 20 solid minutes.
"We believed that before we got here", says forward CJ Miles. "And he had that mindset, came in and executed, and it's hard to come off the bench right after halftime".
The series moves to Memphis for Game 3 tomorrow. "We'll continue to work with him". He made some big plays for us and that's a step in the right direction of being a consummate professional, especially being on a team like this. "He did a hell of a job on the defensive end, came in and made a big shot for us", Smith said. He needs 37 points to pass Kobe Bryant (5,640 points) for third place in National Basketball Association playoff scoring history, and needs two more rebounds to pass Robert Parish (1,765 rebounds) for eighth in postseason history. He was his normal self in the first frame, ending the first 12 minutes with 10 points on a ideal 3-of-3 from the field and 2-of-2 from the stripe, to go with 7 rebounds. Only Jerry West (14) and Michael Jordan (15) had more. "Got into a good rhythm with that, a number of guys stepped it up throughout the game, these guys took over in the fourth quarter".
"It's tough", Lance Stephenson said. He was a free agent after being released by the New Orleans Pelicans, who needed his roster spot because he was injured.
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