IT ain’t over till it’s over.
American baseball legend Yogi Berra first uttered the phrase when his team fell behind and on the brink of losing during the 1973 National League pennant race. His team did eventually rally to win the division title.
The same could be said after Indiana forward Bojan Bogdanovic scored 30 points to lift the Pacers to 92-90 come-from-behind victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Bogdanovic scattered 15 in the fourth quarter as the Pacers came back rom 17 points down at halftime to post a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series. Game 4 will be Sunday (Monday morning in the Philippines) night in Indianapolis.
Bogdanovic hit 11 of 15 shots, including 7 of 9 three-point attempts. Victor Oladipo scored 18 for the Pacers, hitting 5 of 15 shots and 7 of 8 free throws.
LeBron James played another monster game but it was not enough. He scored 28 points on 10-of-22 shooting and also posted game highs of 12 rebounds and eight assists. Kevin Love added 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting.
After 3-pointers by James and Love cut the Pacers’ edge to 91-90 with 7.7 seconds to go, Pacers guard Darren Collison hit the first of two free throws with five seconds to go. JR Smith missed a game-winning 3-point attempt at the buzzer.
The Pacers outscored Cleveland 13-4 to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 61-53 with 6:24 left. Cleveland led 69-63 after three quarters. The Cavaliers were 5 of 19 from the field in the third quarter while the Pacers were 9 of 19.
A triple by Bogdanovic cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 75-73. Oladipo then hit two free throws with 8:38 to go to tie it at 75-all. With the scored tied at 77-all, Bogdanovic converted a four-point play after being fouled on a 3-pointer to give Indiana its first lead at 81-77 with 6:01 left in the fourth quarter. After Cleveland threw the ball away, Bogdanovic sank another 3-pointer.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by James closed the gap to 84-83. After James hit one of two free throws, the Pacers went on a 7-0 run, started by Bogdanovic’s driving layup and followed by his 30-foot 3-pointer.
Love, who is reportedly nursing a partially torn ligament in his left thumb, scored 16 as Cleveland dominated with a 57-40 advantage at halftime. Love sank a 3-pointer with 39 seconds remaining in the half to give the Cavs the 17-point margin, their largest of the half. Cleveland shot 53.8 percent in the first half while the Pacers hit 45.7 percent.
Bogdanovic picked up two fouls in the first three minutes, but came back to lead Indiana with 11 points in the first half.
The Cavaliers sank 11 of 18 shots (61.1 percent) to take a 31-20 lead after the first quarter. The Pacers were hampered by seven of their 10 first-half turnovers in the first quarter. Cleveland had six first-half turnovers.
Indiana committed 17 turnovers, one more than Cleveland overall.
