LeBron James And Tristan Thompson Carried The Cavs To A Game 7 Win Over The Pacers

Much like the entire series, Game 7 of Cavs-Pacers was a back-and-forth affair that saw both teams take apparent control of the game in various stretches, but ultimately it was LeBron James that won out, as he has in every first round series of his career, in a 105-101 win.

James vowed to play “the whole game” and didn’t exit until near the final minute of the third quarter when cramps forced him out. At that time, the Cavs lead had been trimmed to two by the Pacers and it appeared to be the perfect time for Indiana to seize control of Game 7 despite having trailed by as many as 14 in the first half.

Instead, Cleveland’s role players managed to actually extend the lead without LeBron over a stretch of about five minutes of game time, holding a seven point advantage when he returned with just over eight minutes to go in the fourth. That run, fueled by a few key Kevin Love jumpers, was exactly what The King needed to get his body right and be able to give the Cavs just enough down the stretch to advance to Toronto.

LeBron finished the game with 45 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals in a dominating performance. While he didn’t play the whole game as promised and was clearly gassed at times, he was still able to give Cleveland just enough down the stretch to get the job done. It was a vintage LeBron performance, as he got the job done on the offensive end from just about everywhere on the floor, attacking the basket, knocking down the midrange on faceups, and drilling some timely long-range jumpers.

While James was fantastic, the co-star of the evening for Cleveland was the unlikeliest of players as Tristan Thompson finally got extended minutes and rewarded Ty Lue with tremendous effort on both ends of the floor.

Thompson finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds, and 1 block, but that one rejection came at the perfect time as he helped keep Cleveland in control late with a rotation block on Darren Collison late in the fourth quarter.

For the Pacers, they continued to prove they were game adversaries to Cleveland as Victor Oladipo led them with 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists after a slow start to keep Indiana in the game til the end.