Game 2: Indiana Pacers 97-100 Cleveland Cavaliers - 5 Talking Points

The Cleveland Cavaliers roared back from their Game 1 blowout with a 3-point victory that wasn't as close as the scoreboard shows. LeBron James turned on the afterburners and was primarily responsible for their first quarter run (33-18), after which they never relinquished the lead for the length of the game.

The Cavs started off really well on the defensive side of the ball as well, and did not allow the Pacers to put up a single point on the board for over 4 minutes of the first quarter. As the game wore on, the Pacers fought to find a way back to victory, but it was all to no avail as LeBron and company rebuffed every Pacers' run with some great basketball.

Here are 5 talking points from the crucial Game 2:

#5 Disparity in 3-point shooting

Korver was red-hot in this game

Kyle Korver, who'd only played 3 minutes or so in Game 1, was slotted into the starting lineup and played 31 minutes on the night. This allowed him to get into some much-needed game rhythm, and he knocked down 4 out of his 8 3-pointers.

It would ultimately prove to be the difference on the night, as the Cavs converted 11 out of their 28 attempts for a 39.3% conversion rate.

The Pacers, on the other hand, did not find any rhythm whatsoever from behind the arc. If we disregard Oladipo's meaningless 3-pointer as the game clock winding down, they went 5-for-21 (23.8%) from downtown on a bad shooting night for them overall.

Other than Darren Collison and Myles Turner, who shot 2-of-4 and 1-of-1 respectively, the rest of the Pacers were not feeling it on the night.

#4 Pacers do well on offense with LeBron on the bench

Indiana Pacers v Cleveland Cavaliers - Game Two

The Pacers were way off with their offense in the early minutes of the game, converting just 1 of their first 6 shot attempts. Late in the first quarter, however, they started to find their rhythm on offense, mainly due to some great interior offense by Myles Turner.

After a couple of botched possessions and terrible missed shots, Lance Stephenson, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Collison too joined in the act. Victor Oladipo watched on from the bench, having picked up two early fouls.

Early in the 2nd quarter, the Pacers were able to reduce the deficit to just 4 points, before Oladipo went to the bench again with a 3rd foul while closing out on a Kevin Love 3-point shot fake in transition.

LeBron came back into the game and helped guide the Cavs to a 58-46 halftime lead, throwing down a couple of thunderous slams en route.

#3 Foul troubles for both teams

Oladipo got into foul trouble

One of the major reasons why the Pacers were unable to start off well was the fact that Oladipo picked up 2 early fouls and had to go to the bench for most of the first quarter. He picked up a 3rd midway into the 2nd and had to again head to the bench for the remainder of the first half.

Lance Stephenson was also in similar trouble, picking up an offensive foul as well as a couple of questionable defensive foul calls. He also sat out much of the first half.

On the Cavaliers' end, George Hill was in foul trouble in the first half, and he sat down with 3 fouls halfway through the second quarter. He picked up two more in the third to go back to the bench, before fouling out in the 4th quarter with less than a minute of game time left.

#2 The Pacers' role players did their bit

Myles Turner came up with some nice plays

Other than Oladipo, who was great offensively for the most part whenever he was on the court, the Pacers also found some passable offense by Myles Turner. The 3rd-year center has a nice shooting touch, and he's also got some good moves in the paint which he displayed in this game.

Turner finished with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. Darren Collison also showed up for this game, putting up a stat line of 16 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists on 11 shots.

The likes of Stephenson, Joseph and Sabonis combined for 22 points on their own, while Bojan Bogdanovic and Thaddeus Young had 8 each.

#1 LeBron James was at his aggressive best

James was unstoppable on his way to 46 points

James, as asked to by coach Ty Lue, was aggressive right from tip-off. When he's in that sort of mood, there is literally no way to stop the guy from buying a bucket without getting T'ed up.

James scored the first 16 points for the Cavaliers in a whirlwind 7-8 shooting run during the first 6 minutes of the first quarter. He scored on both the right wing and the left - there was a particularly delicious sequence with Thaddeus Young guarding him, in which LeBron shot an 18-foot fadeaway jumper.

He threw in a three each from the left and right wings, and finished the first quarter with 20 points in the bag as the Cavs went into the first quarter break with a 33-18 advantage. At one point on his run, the Cavaliers led by 13-0, and the Pacers were only able to open their account from the free throw line.

Later on, in the 4th quarter, LeBron went back to isolation plays. He got Sabonis to commit a flagrant foul, while the likes of Stephenson and Turner were unable to do anything about his jump shooting.

He finished with a staggering stat line of 46 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals on 17-of-24 shooting from the field and 2-of-5 from downtown