Game 3: Cleveland Cavaliers 90-92 Indiana Pacers - 5 Talking Points
It was on this day, last year, that the Indiana Pacers hit rock bottom. They blew a 26-point lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers en route to a crushing Game 3 loss, which all but ended their postseason hopes. The 25-point halftime lead the Pacers surrendered was the largest in NBA playoffs history. They returned the favor this time.
The Pacers roared back from a 17-point deficit at the half, led by Bojan Bogdanovic to stun the Cavaliers, and take a 2-1 lead in the series. The Cavs had a chance to win it late, but JR Smith air-balled his desperation heave from 38-feet as Indiana hung on for the win.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the game:
#5 Cleveland's offense continues to flounder
The Cavaliers were one of the highest scoring teams in the league in the regular season but boy have they struggled in this series. Cleveland ended the regular season 5th in Scoring, at 110.9 PPG but haven't even come close to matching that mark. They're averaging 90 points a game this series, the lowest in these playoffs, which is quite simply astonishing considering everyone assumed it would be their strength.
The atrocious regular season defense has improved a lot and if Cleveland could match their offensive output, this series would probably have been a wrap.
One of the keys for Indiana during the season was stopping the 3-point shot and it's been the case this series. Cleveland lives-and-dies by the 3 and the Pacers who ranked 5th in 3 point % allowed at a measly 34.9% have stifled them. The Cavs, who shot 37.2% from 3 in the regular season, have been limited to just 30.8% from 3 and shot just 10/32 in Game 3.
Cleveland shot 39% from 3 in Game 2 and if they are to win this series, they'll have to hit them at that pace or else Indiana will pull off the biggest playoff upset we've seen in quite some time.