Behind the insane second half of Bojan Bogdanovic, the Indiana Pacers had an insane 17 point comeback to take game 3 from the Cleveland Cavaliers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Pacers now lead the series 2-1, and haven't scored 100 points in any of the three games of the series so far. Even in the game they lost, they made the score extremely close where the Cavaliers needed LeBron James to tap into his super powers and score 46 points to be victorious.
I was very naive through this season. I really believed that the Cavs might take a step back without Kyrie Irving, but would still run through the Eastern Conference with flying colors. Little did we know that they would be struggling with the Pacers in round 1. This season, for those of us who care too damn much about the Cavaliers has been one giant mess. Between the 87 guys who played point guard, the multiple games where they held 15+ point leads that they have blown (oh hey....like tonight) and the fact that other than LeBron you can't trust anyone on the team to score....not good Bob.
Now, props to the Pacers. They have been great. They use their speed and athleticism along with their youth to take advantage of a team that, well, isn't fast, athletic or young for that matter. Victor Oladipo might have carried the Pacers to a game one victory with a 32 point performance, but tonight was all about the other guys on the young Pacers team. Myles Turner was excellent, Thaddeus Young was awesome on defense and as mentioned earlier, Bogdanovic made a lot of insane shots that you wouldn't expect him to make.
Tonight we finally saw George Hill look like he could be reliable for the Cavs, but then the second half happened. Rodney Hood was a guy I thought would be way better after he got traded and guys like Jeff Green and J.R. Smith being relied on to make big baskets is really god awful planning for an NBA team trying to make their 4th straight NBA Finals.
Why is it, with all of that being said, I still expect LeBron James to take this team past the Pacers in 7, beat the Raptors and then give us the Eastern Conference Finals we all want vs the 76ers? Am I just delusional to think Ty Lue will get his guys ready to help the King? Yeah, probably.
