The Cleveland Cavaliers found themselves on the ropes in the first-round of the 2018 NBA playoffs.For the first time in his career, LeBron James found his team down in a first-round series (2-1) and for the first time in his career, James had to win a Game 7 in the first-round as the Indiana Pacers blew out the Cavs in Game 6 to force the final game. However, LeBron showed up to play and had a monster game to lead his Cavaliers to a 105-101 first-round playoff victory over the Indiana Pacers to move on to the second round to take on the Toronto Raptors for the third straight year in the playoffs.

After the game, a Pacers superstar had a huge message to send to James after his team lost.

Pacers respond to Game 7 loss to LeBron James

Victor Oladipo was a newcomer to the Indiana Pacers this season. He played for the Oklahoma City Thunder and was part of the trade that sent Paul George to OKC. However, while George and the Thunder lost four games to two to the Utah Jazz in the playoffs first-round, Oladipo and the Pacers were one win from beating LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

With that said, Oladipo is not an arrogant player and kept his respect for LeBron James throughout his press conference after the game. Oladipo said that LeBron is “the best in the word. That’s what he does" Oladipo finished by saying, "now I gotta work so I can get on that level.”

Victor Olasipo finished with 30 points and 12 rebounds in Game 7 and the Oklahoma City Thunder might wonder if they could have competed better with Oladipo in their lineup rather than Paul George.

Lance Stephenson, who was loud and antagonistic throughout the entire series, was more reflective after the game as well. In an interview, he said that he has played LeBron James a lot in the postseason over his career and this was the year that he felt he had the best chance to win -- but they didn't pull it out. He said the Cavs made changes and earned the win.

Cavaliers talk about their Game 7 win

As Victor Oladipo stated, LeBron James is playing on an entirely different level right now. In Game 7, LeBron finished with 45 points with nine rebounds and seven assists. He also had four steals and passed Scottie Pippen all-time for playoff steals. James scored more points than all four of the Cavs other starters added together (43 points).

After the win, LeBron James said that he does whatever it takes to help them win and he wanted to do that in this series. He wanted to trust himself and his teammates. He also gave a lot of credit to the Indiana Pacers and Victor Oladipo. Jame also said that he wants to go home because he is tired and "burnt" and doesn't even want to think about Toronto right now.

As for his teammates, they are still in awe of LeBron James. Even Tristan Thompson, who played with LeBron for years now with the Cleveland Cavaliers is still inspired by his play. Thompson, who started his first game in this year's playoffs today, said that LeBron has a "Lamborghini motor" and that LeBron is unreal.

Finally, Tyronn Lue, who made some major lineup changes for the Cleveland Cavaliers today (Love back to OF, Thompson back to starting lineup), said that LeBron James did it all for the Cavs this series, putting the entire team on his back to win.
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