IC Cold Links: Pacers Leave Cleveland Frustrated

Here are a few items of interest after the Pacers loss in Cleveland last night:

• Mike Wells reports on the Pacers' frustration over letting a lead slip away in the fourth quarter. The players were looking at the mistakes they made, especially the turnovers, as the difference on the road.

  The Pacers, who led by as many as 10 points, turned the ball over 24 times, leading to 26 Cleveland points.

  "I think that's our next step," said forward Danny Granger, who committed a game-high six turnovers. "That's been our Achilles' heel. If we can take care of the ball more, we might only have one loss instead of three."

• Jim O'Brien couldn't get past the free throw differential in his post-game comments. Funny, I'm so used to the Pacers never getting calls when they go to the hoop, I no longer get worked up about it. I can think of at least three or four non-calls on Granger and Jack alone without looking at the tape. I'm sure JOB has a longer list.

  "The 17 free throw differential was the difference in the game," he said. "We only shot 11 foul shots and they shot 28. A very physical game with a team that takes it to the rack as much as we do and to only get to the foul line 11 times, that's puzzling to me."

  What about your team's turnovers?

  "The fact that they had 28 free throws and we had 11, I just shake my head at that one," O'Brien responded, obviously not thinking about his team's 24 turnovers. "I'm just going to continue to scratch my head over that one."

  Danny Granger also took exception to the elbow LeBron James threw in plain view of the refs that was overlooked. No justice for the young and developing team.
• From the Cleveland perspective, the Cavs did just enough to win regardless of anything the Pacers did in the game.
• Full postgame report with notes and quotes.