Game 7: Indiana Pacers 101 - 105 Cleveland Cavaliers - 5 Talking Points

In one of the best game 7s played in recent playoffs, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Indiana Pacers went back and forth at each other for almost the entire game, before the Pacers suffered a 4-point loss to the Cavs who were superior on the night.

LeBron James had another monster night, as he needs to every game for the Cavs in the playoffs this year, and he outshone Victor Oladipo and the Pacers on his own for the most part - although the first-time All-Star did prove a tough nut to crack and finished with a big game of his own.

The game began with the Cavaliers leading by a double-digit margin for most of the first 2 quarters before the Pacers succeeded in clawing their way back into the lead late in the 3rd quarter. The game remained neck-and-neck till the early minutes of the 4th quarter when the Cavs took a lead which they preserved for the rest of the game.

Despite a defeat, the Pacers will be buoyed by their postseason performance this season and will look to come back with a vengeance next season as well. The Cavs move on to play the Raptors in the Conference Semifinals. Here are 5 talking points from the game:

---

#5 LeBron James asserted himself right from tip-off

James hits a 3-pointer over Bojan Bogdanovic

LeBron's record in Game 7s has been the stuff of true legends, and he added another feather to his vastly decorated cap today with a 45-point, 9-rebound, 7-assist, and 4-steal performance that the Indiana Pacers had no answer for. All in all, he made 16 of his 25 shots, 11 out of 15 free throw attempts and 2 out of 3 3-pointers.

He pushed the tempo early on in this game, just like he did in game 2 of this series. He took it upon himself to put up the bulk of his points, and he finished the first quarter with 13 points in the first quarter on 5-of-5 shooting from the field. Unlike Game 2, however, he also got his teammates going early on, and he signed off the quarter with a long 2-pointer over Domantas Sabonis.

#4 Oladipo shrugged off a mediocre first quarter to finish strong

Oladipo had a great game in a losing cause

After suffering for most of the first half, when he was missing shots all over the place and finished with just 5 of the Pacers' 43 points, Oladipo powered the 3rd quarter success of the Pacers. He had 14 points in the 3rd period to go with 2 steals, as the Pacers wrestled their way back to within 2 points of the Cavs - they even held the lead for a short while.

Oladipo finished with 30 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists on 10-of-21 shooting from the field, including 4-of-9 from long range. The one regret Oladipo will have from this game is the fact that he missed 3 of his free throw attempts, in a game of fine margins.

The Cavs kept doubling him, as they have done persistently since Game 2 of this series. But Oladipo was aggressive even in clutch time, getting a couple of quite unbelievable layups to keep the Pacers within touching distance for as long as he could. Oladipo deserves rave reviews for the performances he's put up for most of this series - his first series as the first option in the postseason.

#3 Myles Turner's foul troubles and the butterfly effects of this

Myles Turner's foul troubles took away the physicality of his play in the 4th quarter

Myles Turner got into foul trouble in the 2nd quarter. He saw action in most of the first quarter, but he did not get much of a chance in the 2nd. He came back in the 3rd quarter to pick up his 3rd and 4th fouls in quick succession and was forced back to the bench by coach Nate McMillan.

Turner picked up his 5th foul with 8:04 remaining in the 4th quarter, and subsequently began playing defense with a much more hands-off approach, allowing the Cavs to play him more physically.

His prudent strategy did not pay him much dividend, however, as a clear flop by JR Smith caused the refs to blow the whistle on him the 6th time on the night, causing him to be replaced by Domantas Sabonis with over 4:30 remaining in the 4th quarter.

It was basically bad refereeing that put Turner out of the game, and he could have made a difference in clutch time with his superior athleticism, better jump shooting game and improved coordination in the pick-and-roll with Oladipo.

#2 Tristan Thompson has a throwback game

Thompson looked back to his bullying best

Coach Ty Lue fielded what turned out to be his 35th different starting lineup of the 2017-18 NBA season for the Cavs. Tristan Thompson was handed his first playoff start, and the first this season in quite a while. He paid off Lue's faith in him in kind, doing all the dirty work and providing a stout defensive presence inside the Cavaliers' paint - an area where they were completely dominated in Game 6.

Playing essentially as a center with Love out on the perimeter as a stretch power forward, Thompson logged 15 points, 10 rebounds, a steal and a block in 34 minutes of game time. Included in those 10 boards were 5 crucial offensive boards, as the Cavs won the all-important battle of the boards 44-37.

If Thompson continues to anchor the paint like this and crash the offensive glass with consistency, the Cavaliers will be almost as good as their iteration from the 2017 postseason.

#1 Game 7 brought the best out of every single player

Thompson consoles Victor Oladipo at the end of the game

For the first time in this series, all 5 of the Cleveland Cavaliers' usual starting five from the regular season finished with double-digit scores. LeBron had 45, Love had 14, Thompson had 15, while JR Smith and George Hill each had 11.

On the Pacers' part, while Bojan Bogdanovic and Myles Turner were massively underwhelming on offense, they played stout defense. Bogdanovic ended up with a +/- of 4 despite only scoring 3 points off 9 field goal attempts, and he tried his best to pose difficulties to LeBron James.

For the most part, the Cavs won this game because their complementary role players played to their potential on the offensive end, while the Pacers didn't. Perhaps it was the experience that LeBron and co have of closing out series over the years that proved to be the difference this time around.