James leads Cavs sweep Pacers into second round

INDIANAPOLIS-LeBron James stuck to the old script Sunday.

The loss marked the fourth time in the last six seasons that the Pacers have been eliminated from the postseason by a LeBron James-led team.

Nene made all 12 of his shots as he collected 10 rebounds for the Rockets, who can seal the Western Conference series at home on Tuesday. "Just a slow night for me to get a rhythm".

The NBA has fined Bulls guard Rajon Rondo $25,000 for attempting to trip Celtics forward Jae Crowder from the bench in Game 3 of their first-round series. LeBron turned in another masterpiece going for 41 points, grabbing 13 rebounds and dishing out 12 assists, while leading the largest comeback in NBA Playoff history and helping the Cavaliers take a 3-0 series lead.

James wasn't alone in his contributions.

Kyrie Irving added 28 points, Deron Williams scored 14 and Kevin Love had five points and 16 rebounds. In addition, Myles Turner scored 20 points and nine rebounds while Thaddeus Young added 13 points and 10 rebounds. Paul George had 15, but missed a 3-pointer that could have forced overtime in the closing seconds. "You got to be willing to sacrifice and lay it on the line to win a game, and that's what he did for us".

That's why IN players, at least IN the back of their minds, are probably already thinking about vacations IN Cancun, Hawaii or the Bahamas.

All three finished the game.

After weathering an initial run from IN in the first quarter, the Cavs were IN control.

But with the Cavs on offense, it was James again who played the role of hero for Cleveland, knocking down a 3-pointer to put Cleveland back up by one.

Again, he bailed out the Cleveland Cavaliers. He left with 8:42 left in the second quarter and did not return. The sharpshooter hit both, putting Cleveland up 105-102 and forcing a Pacers timeout. "I don't feel like they had one easy game". The Cavaliers squandered a 96-83 lead in the fourth quarter and trailed 102-100 before James hit his only trey of the game.

The Cavs led 88-77 after the third.

A correct call would've ended Cleveland's possession and given IN the ball with a two-point lead.

In each of the seven times James has gone up 3-0 in a playoff series, his team won in a sweep. He finished with a plus-minus of +5 over that stretch - not too shabby as the Cavs look to wrap up their first round series Sunday.

Combined with the first poor shooting night for Paul George in the series spelled doom for in in the end. They built a 58-52 lead at halftime, and that advantage ballooned to double digits for most of the second half.

"Tough team", James said of the Pacers. At the start of the third, the Cavaliers began shooting effectively which cuts the deficit to less than twenty.

On Sunday, the Cleveland Cavaliers completed the sweep of the Indiana Pacers with a 106-102 victory. Jeff Teague's defense in the fourth quarter was nothing short of elite. "It just didn't go our way". Speculations point to the possibility of a Paul George trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers by the offseason.

The Cavaliers had just 11 assists on the night.

Lance Stephenson scored 22 points for Indiana. "I don't want nobody to try and split us up". It was a very hard game emotionally.

"Mentally and emotionally, I'm not here so I just feed off what the guys give me", Thomas said. We fought our way back in the game, took the lead.

"You have to give credit to Cleveland".

The Pacers' season will be defined by consistent inconsistency, overall dysfunction, the looming cloud of Paul George's future with the team, and serves as the latest chapter that the franchise can't get past LeBron James.

"I know where we're trying to go", Smith said.

"We didn't play good offensively the whole game", coach Tyronn Lue said. We missed some shots. "It was definitely a big play for our team". If I go to the bench and Steven's on the floor and I'm off the floor, we're in this together. "They made the plays to win the games".