The Pacers showed as much resolve, chemistry and effort as any team in franchise history this season but ultimately lacked two things in their playoff series with Cleveland: The experience needed to deal with such an "ultimate" game and the means of dealing with the NBA's ultimate player, LeBron James.
They flew back to Indianapolis Sunday evening, their season ended by a 105-101 loss in Game 7 of their first-round series at Quicken Loans Arena. Slightly more poise, a few more rebounds, a couple more shots and, yes, another favorable whistle or two, and they would have flown to Toronto instead, to begin a second-round series with the Raptors on Tuesday.