Lance Stephenson Must 'Learn to Control Himself — Paul George

The final 117-111 score doesn't reflect how much the Cavaliers were in charge most of the contest.

The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Indiana Pacers for the second time in two tries of their first-round playoff series.

Needed to start the second half after J.R. Smith's left hamstring tightened up, Shumpert provided scoring, defensive pressure on Paul George and some attitude as Cleveland survived another late rally by IN for a 117-111 win to take a 2-0 lead IN their Eastern Conference series.

James (25 points and 10 rebounds) and Love (27 and 11) each had double-doubles in the win. Love was called for the foul. After all, LeBron James is still LeBron James.

Game three is on Friday morning (AEST).

Still, James came away encouraged. While for now the Cavs can just sub in the big three and be fine, they must find different lineups that utilize the strengths of each member of the big three without them all being on the court at the same time. We all know that Lance is an emotional guy. "We'll figure it out".

It was a little more nervy than it ought to have been, though, as the Cavs were leading by 18 points in the final quarter before taking their foot off the pedal. Defensively, we just didn't play that right. He did have eight of Cleveland's 19 turnovers, miscues that allowed the Pacers to hang around.

In Game 3 on Thursday, look for Turner to come out and play more aggressively in front of the in fans.

CLEVELAND - After another excruciating loss in which the Indiana Pacers almost came all the way back from a late double-digit deficit before succumbing to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Paul George had blunt criticism for more of his teammates.

Twenty-one bench points. That was all the 10-man reserve squad of Cleveland could muster after the starters combined for 96.

Teague injured his right wrist in the second half and coach Nate McMillan said the starting guard will undergo X-rays.

When play resumed, Irving came totally free on a great baseline inbounds play and made a layup to put the Cavs up seven with 29.6 seconds left. "It's our offense. I think we get exhausted at times. The energy really picked up on the defensive end, it dictated what we were doing on the offensive end and from there we never really looked back and it was a good third quarter for us". "And that was big".

The entire Cavaliers' team had a super-insane 67.9 true shooting percentage.

Now, they're heading home in a hole they still believe they can climb from.

"We have so many pieces on this team, but everyone has to stay ready", Irving said. "We understand that, but we've got to be smart also". With Smith out with a left hamstring injury, Shump's impact was especially crucial in bouncing out to the lead.

Iman Shumpert, who didn't play at all in Game 1, replaced Smith and scored five points.

"We just need him to challenge Tristan [Thompson], keep him off the boards", George said of the 21-year-old Turner.

George was upset that the fiery Stephenson briefly lost his composure.

The Cavs have a brought a double team when Paul George gets the ball. "I thought we started to get frantic out there". "Lance is, in our locker room, is looked upon as a leader". His body language has to improve - just for the team. We know how good LeBron is going to be, we know how good Kyrie is going to be. And reserve center Al Jefferson, a methodical 32-year-old low-post player, would likely be toast.

Note: Glenn Robinson III played in his first game since March 26.

Celtics: Coach Brad Stevens says Isaiah Thomas plans to play in Game 2 Tuesday night against the Chicago Bulls, then head to Washington state to be with his family and help complete funeral arrangements for his sister. LeBron had a soaring, one-handed jam off a breakaway in the first half and then exposed a Pacers' defensive miscommunication for another, the latter a powerful two-handed statement. He also passed Magic Johnson (358 steals) for third place in playoff steals.

Gasol buried the shot and it killed off the Grizzlies' run. Stephenson had a strong workout with Cleveland in January before latching on with in, but coach Tyronn Lue said his recent injuries dissuaded the Cavs from signing him. And while a two-game sample size against the Pacers is small, it's not like Cleveland was playing good defense to close the regular season.

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