CLEVELAND: Afficionados of defense, focus and fast-paced basketball, including Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue, could not have been happy. At least through the first 48 minutes.
But for those more concerned about the Cavs keeping pace with the Boston Celtics in the race for the East’s No. 1 seed, Sunday’s wild 135-130 double-overtime victory over the Indiana Pacers at Quicken Loans Arena was good enough.
The Cavs stayed within a half-game of the Celtics, pulling out a game they seemingly frittered away late in regulation. Kevin Love scored nine points in the second overtime, including a 3-pointer with 26.5 seconds left that put the Cavs up 131-127.
Paul George scored 19 consecutive points for the Pacers, including all their scoring in both overtimes until ex-Cav C.J. Miles hit three free throws with eight seconds to play in the second OT.
With the Cavs seemingly running on empty, Love found a second gear just when the Cavs needed it most. He hit all four of his shots in the second extra period and pulled down three rebounds.
In the first overtime, all seemed lost until the Cavs’ J.R. Smith hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 2.8 seconds remaining. Smith was closely guarded by Jeff Teague, but got off the shot in traffic to put the Cavs up 114-113.
But Tristan Thompson was called for a foul on a 2-point attempt by George with 2.1 seconds remaining and George made the second of two free throws to tie the game at 114.
Love tried to lob the inbounds pass to James, but George came up with a steal, giving the Pacers a chance to win it with 1.1 seconds left. Teague’s inbounds pass found George at the top of the key, but his shot hit the rim and bounced away, forcing a second overtime.
Lue played his stars to exhaustion after the Celtics defeated the New York Knicks earlier in the day. The Cavs finish a three-game homestand Tuesday against the Orlando Magic before a crucial showdown in Boston on Wednesday night. The Celtics are idle until that much-anticipated clash.
Until overtime, it seemed as if the Cavs were saving the style points for TD Garden.
The Pacers, who are battling the Bulls and Heat for the eighth and final spot in the playoffs, were No. 9 entering the night and remain there. But the Pacers had dropped seven consecutive road games since a March 5 victory in Atlanta and coach Nate McMillan believes the Pacers need to win out to make the eight-team field.
With Sunday beginning a stretch of three games in four days for the Cavs, there was a sense that they were doing just enough to get by, especially during a lethargic third quarter, the likes of which cost them a win Thursday in Chicago.
With 5:11 to go in that period, the Cavs had hit 4-of-12 field goals and allowed the Pacers to tie the game at 71. The Cavs took an 83-77 lead at the quarter break, then came out more determined to start the fourth. LeBron James opened with a 3-pointer, Deron Williams drove for a layup and Channing Frye sank a 3 from the key as the Cavs opened up a 91-77 advantage with 10:21 to go.
But the Pacers refused to fold. Fueled by eight consecutive points by Miles, they cut the gap to 96-94 with 5:58 remaining. They took a 99-98 lead on a 3 by Teague with 3:48 left, but regained the edge on a dunk from James off a J.R. Smith assist.
The game was nip-and-tuck the rest of the way. A 3 by Miles, giving him 11 points in the fourth quarter, put the Pacers ahead 104-102 with 1:25 left. James tied it with a fadeaway off a Williams inbounds pass with 1:01 to go.
The Pacers’ Myles Turner missed a jumper with 1.3 seconds left and the Cavs got a chance to win it in regulation. But Love couldn’t get the inbounds pass to James, who appeared to be held by George, as time expired.
James turned in his career-high 11th triple-double with 41 points, 16 rebounds and 11 assists. He scored 16 points in the fourth quarter. But he played 52 minutes, a major concern for the Cavs in the remaining six regular-season games.
“Just wanted to use our timeouts wisely,” Lue said of James’ workload. “He wanted to play and he fought through it.
“I don’t know how our guys are going to feel. [We’ll] be off tomorrow and be at the arena at 4:30 on Tuesday.”
It marked 787 consecutive regular-season games that James has scored double figures. With a string that began on Jan. 6, 2007, James tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the second-longest streak in league history. Michael Jordan holds the record with 866 consecutive games.
Kyrie Irving, 19-of-56 from the field in three games before hitting 11-of-16 Friday against the 76ers, slipped back into a mini-slump. Irving hit 5-of-20 against the Pacers, finishing with 23 points, five rebounds and seven assists.
Smith, hitting 8-of-14 from 3-point range over the previous two games, continued to show signs of regaining his touch. He went 6-of-12 from the field, 6-of-11 on 3s, to contribute 18 points and five rebounds.
Four-time All Star George led the Pacers with 43 points, nine rebounds and nine assists — most while being guarded by James, who had a heated exchange of words with Thompson during a timeout in the second overtime.
“We’ve got to get on a roll and win some games,” Lue said of putting James on George. “In the playoffs he’s going to have to guard the best players at that position.”
Miles contributed a season-high 27 points. He came into the game averaging 11.1 points in 18 previous meetings against his old team. Miles’ previous season-high was 23 points against the Cavs on Feb. 8.
The Cavs improved to 3-1 against the Pacers this season. They have won seven consecutive games against the Pacers at the Q, where the Cavs are 30-8 at home this season — tied for second-best in the league entering the day.
With playoff implications for both teams, McMillan hoped his team would embrace the pressure.
“This is what we’re faced with so you have to embrace it,” McMillan said. “You focus on one game at a time. We know we’ve got a lot of work to do. With Cleveland trying to get themselves right and bringing some guys back, they’re going to be playing their best basketball.
“This is a pressure situation for a lot of teams that are trying to position themselves in the playoff race. This has been going on for the last month or so with these teams one through 10.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla.