NBA Playoffs Betting Odds: Indiana Pacers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Game 5 Recap

CLEVELAND- Game 5 of the opening round of the NBA Playoffs is Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

LeBron James scored 44 points and made 10 rebounds.

The Cleveland Cavaliers relied on the greatest player in today’s National Basketball Association to take a 3-2 series led over the Indiana Pacers Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, Oladipo was not a happy Pacer after the game. Young had 16 points and six rebounds while Bojan Bogdanovic, the hero of Game 3, contributed 11 points and three assists. “I know everybody was already thinking they were going to get the ball, but I can jump and I can dunk a only in practice”.

“We had a timeout and a foul to give”, IN coach Nate McMillan said, “and we leave here with both of them”. The Pacers were frustrated that they allowed James to have so much space – tracking data from Second Spectrum showed that James had 4.6 feet of room when he launched the shot.

Despite Oladipo’s 2-for-9 shooting performance, the Pacers hit 21 of 38 shots (55.3 per cent) to lead 56-49 at halftime.

LeBron got the ball and the rest was history. “We should’ve got the ref’s attention”.

This one put the Cavs ahead in the series, 3-2, with Game 6 Friday in Indianapolis. Jeff Teague scored 17 and had seven assists.

Four of the long range misses in the first quarter were by Smith.

Calderon provided a huge lift, making a pair of 3-pointers and contributing several other hustle plays in 20 minutes.

He’s averaging just under 35 points per game in this series, and his team has needed all of it. Kevin Love is due for a bounce-back game after two games of below 25% shooting, and paired with the hot shooting of Kyle “Mr”. The dynamic duo has been reliable all season, but Washington’s Game 5 success hinges upon the play of Markieff Morris, Kelly Oubre, Otto Porter and Mike Scott. Korver nailed two free throws on the next possession. And the Pacers wouldn’t quit.

The Pacers were poised to take the lead in game 5 on Victor Oladipo’s driving lay-up. The game plan clearly was for James to attack, especially when the Pacers switched bigger defenders on him. However, James came from behind and blocked Oladipo’s shot, which appeared to hit the backboard before Cleveland’s star touched it – a goaltending violation. The crowd at The Q went wild. But that wasn’t the reason James’ teammates doused him with water in celebration on the floor.

LeBron’s game-winner was preceded by his mistake and then a brilliant defensive play.

But that’s a topic for another day. He was 15 of 15 from the free-throw line.

1 – Just when you thought LeBron James couldn’t do anything else to carry his team to another win, he comes back and totally redeems himself. Expect the spread to be no more than 2 points in either direction.

PRESSURE IS ON: Cavs coach Tyronn Lue.