Cavaliers at Pacers
As long as LeBron James is on the floor, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a chance to win. James, who beat the buzzer to give his team a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference first-round series on Wednesday, will try to lead the Cavaliers into the semifinals when they visit the Indiana Pacers for Game 6 on Friday.
James capped off a 44-point, 10-rebound, eight-assist performance by nailing a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cavaliers a 98-95 victory in Game 5 and their first lead of the series. "As a kid, you always have those 'three-two-one' moments, and being able to have one of those moments, that's what it kind of felt like," James told reporters of the last shot. "Felt like I was a kid all over again. Just playing basketball at my house, makeshift hoops and my socks as a basketball. Making the [swish] noise." James' buzzer-beater came after he swatted away a dunk attempt by Indiana's Victor Oladipo at the other end - a play the NBA declared on Thursday should have been called a goaltend. "It is what it is," Pacers center Myles Turner told reporters. "It was clearly a goaltend. They didn't review it. There's not anything you can say about it. It's frustrating. It doesn't change the fact that LeBron still hit that game-winning shot, but it's still a pivotal moment in the game that I feel does need a review."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, FS Ohio (Cleveland), FS Indiana
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: Kevin Love added a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds on Wednesday and felt confident that his teammate was the right person to take the final shot. "We wanted to free up 'Bron as best we could," Love told reporters. "He had to make a read whether to go low or high and caught the ball. He seems to shoot that shot a lot in practice as well as many others; but going to his left and rising without a pump-fake – he was in a good rhythm and hit an amazing shot. It was unbelievable." Kyle Korver was the only other player to score in double figures with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting for Cleveland.
ABOUT THE PACERS: Indiana guard Victor Oladipo started out hot in the series but is struggling over the last three games and was just 2-of-15 from the floor while scoring 12 points on Wednesday. The All-Star is 12-of-50 over the last three contests after going 20-of-37 in the first two games. "The series ain't over," Oladipo told reporters. "You got to win four games for the series to be over, right? So, we got a chance to win on Friday. I don't think anybody is discouraged or upset."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Pacers C Domantas Sabonis is averaging 20.5 points on 17-of-24 shooting over the last two games.
2. Cavaliers PG George Hill (back) missed the last two games and is questionable for Friday.
3. Cleveland SG JR Smith went scoreless on 0-of-8 shooting in 33 minutes on Wednesday.