INDIANAPOLIS -- If there was ever a series destined to go seven games, it was the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers -- one of the tightest first-round matchups in NBA history.
Game 6 didn't fit in with the previous four games, which were grinders to the end, but it followed the general path of what has happened between a fading favorite and an upstart challenger. The Pacers believe they have the better team, if not the best player, and razor-thin losses in the previous two games didn't convince them any different.
They performed that way Friday, not only battering the Cavs 121-87 but also bruising them. LeBron James was leveled by a shoulder from Thaddeus Young, opening a cut above his eye. Kevin Love was knocked from the game after a collision with Myles Turner in the third quarter.
Early in the first quarter, the Pacers ran a set play for Victor Oladipo, running him through two screens to free him for a 3-pointer on the wing. He rose and released with perfect form and the ball banged through. He jogged up the floor looking pounds lighter than the guy who was 7-of-35 over the previous two games.
He floated and muscled his way to 15 first-quarter points, punctuating it with a reverse transition dunk that flushed whatever remained from the slump. It was just the opening act of a command performance, the exact sort of lift a star is supposed to deliver in an elimination game.
Oladipo lowered the boom in the third quarter, scoring 10 more points with a power dunk and a few more 3-pointers. When it was over, Oladipo had a triple-double of 28 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists, and the Pacers had a lot of mojo personified by Lance Stephenson dancing after he made his own 3-pointer in a midst of a huge run.
Oladipo dragged his backcourt mate, the also slumping Darren Collison with him, as he contributed 15 points as the Indiana embarrassed Cleveland's entire backcourt.
Overall, the Pacers had seven players in double figures.
James had a decent game by his standards with 22 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists, resting the fourth quarter after 31:11. But in a series where he came in averaging nearly 35 points and 11 rebounds, anything less than a masterpiece pretty much leaves the Cavs in trouble.
In addition to getting knocked in the head and a hard fall on his arm, Love had another subpar game with seven points on 3-of-10 shooting from the field, seven rebounds, and little else.
The Cavs made six of their first nine 3-pointers and then missed their next 11. They finished 12-of-38 (31.6 percent). This has been a trademark of the team since its midseason trades; they tend to go cold from the perimeter and when they do it's typically curtains in a big way. In that span of misses, the Pacers' confidence grew as they were able to get stops and create transition offense.
Oh, and the Pacers had transition offense. They racked up 30 -- 30! -- fast-break points in only the first three quarters, and outscored Cleveland 35-12 overall on the break. In an Eastern Conference playoff game, that sort of number is preposterous. The Cavs can't dream of keeping up with that, ahem, pace the way they're playing in this series.
What it leaves is a Game 7 Sunday in Cleveland. James has won his past four Game 7s; in fact he hasn't lost one since 2008. But this is his first in a first-round series, the first time he might be representing the inferior team in such a game.
It's an awkward position, and, when accounting for James' pending free agency, a layer of pressure Cleveland was not expecting before the end of April.
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