Behind 45 points from LeBron James, Cavaliers top Pacers 105-101 in Game 7.
CLEVELAND — LeBron James wasn't ready to go home or to Philadelphia or Los Angeles.
He's heading to Toronto, bringing a Cavaliers team that isn't done yet.
Unwilling to sit despite battling leg cramps in the second half, James scored 45 points and got some much-needed help from his teammates in Game 7 to stay unbeaten in the opening round of the NBA playoffs, leading the Cavaliers to a 105-101 win on Sunday over the Indiana Pacers, who pushed the game's best player to the breaking point.
Following the game, an exhausted James said the series took a physical toll.
“I'm burnt right now,” he said. “I'm not thinking about Toronto right now until tomorrow. I'm ready to go home. Can we? I'm tired. I want to go home.”
James added nine rebounds, seven assists and played over 43 minutes while improving to 13-0 in the first round. He kept Cleveland's strange season alive but it took everything the 33-year-old and the Cavs had to hold off the Pacers.
But James, who at times seemed to be playing the Pacers by himself in the series, pulled the Cavs back from the brink of elimination and at least delayed any more talk about impending free agency.
The Cavs will open the conference semifinals on Tuesday at top-seeded Toronto.
Nothing was going to keep James off the floor in what some Cleveland fans feared could have been his last game with the franchise.
“It felt like a Game 7,” he said. “It was like, your mind is thinking like, `OK, besides the two I played in the Finals, you start thinking like, is this it? Could this be it?' That's just human nature. And then the other side of my brain was like, `Let's go make something happen. Let's go, that's what you here for. You're here to make plays, you're the leader.“’