LeBron James, Cavaliers Escape Victor Oladipo, Pacers in Game 7, to Face Raptors

The Cleveland Cavaliers advanced to the second round of the 2018 NBA playoffs with a 105-101 win over the Indiana Pacers at home Sunday at Quicken Loans Arena.

LeBron James led the Cavs with 45 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

On the other side, Victor Oladipo finished with a double-double (30 points, 12 rebounds, six assists).

Oladipo got the Pacers to within 100-96 with 50.1 seconds remaining. But James responded with a layup off a feed from Kyle Korver to make it a six-point game and then did enough to force Oladipo to miss on a three-pointer at the other end.

That effectively ended Indiana's comeback attempt.

After taking a back seat for pretty much the entire series, Tristan Thompson stepped up in a big way Sunday.

Thompson logged 24 minutes through the first six games, and he didn't even hit the floor in Games 2, 3 and 5.

Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue inserted Thompson into the starting lineup for Game 7, and Thompson repaid the favor by scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Cleveland.com's Chris Fedor also thought the veteran power forward partnered well with James:

Thompson's impact waned over the course of the game, though, which meant James again didn't get much support from his teammates. The Cavaliers had 76 points entering the third quarter—38 of which were scored by James.

Cleveland's role players did, however, deliver after James left the game with a minute left in the third. He remained out for the start of the fourth quarter, and the Cavaliers took an eight-point lead on Kevin Love's three-pointer at the 9:42 mark. The Athletic's Tom Red wondered if that brief stretch was a turning point:

Cleveland was still up eight, 86-78, when James re-entered the game with 8:25 left.

When the Cavaliers were without James, the Pacers had an opportunity to capitalize and go on a run. Instead, Cleveland not only survived but also took control of the game.

NBA.com's John Schuhmann thought it was a theme throughout the series for Indiana:

The Pacers can take plenty of positives from this year. Oladipo far exceeded expectations, so they might be one of the few teams to improve after trading a star player. Generally speaking, the franchise's future remains bright.

But Indiana is likely to look back on this series and feel like it had an opportunity to pull off the upset.

The Cavaliers will meet the Toronto Raptors in the second round. Cleveland owned a 2-1 advantage over Toronto during the regular season.

In advancing to the second round, the Cavaliers avoided a major embarrassment, but the team still has plenty of issues to iron out if it's to reach a fourth straight NBA Finals.

James averaged 41.1 minutes per game against the Pacers, and the Cavs could play three more rounds in the postseason.

The team's run without James will be a source of optimism going forward, but it's hard to see how Cleveland can lighten his workload and have any hope of winning. The Cavaliers had a minus-16.2 net rating when James was on the bench in the first round, according to NBA.com.

Many will consider Cleveland the favorite against Toronto. The Cavs bounced the Raptors out of the playoffs in each of the last two years, and the Raptors didn't look too convincing in its first-round series against the Washington Wizards.

But after Cleveland was pushed to the brink against Indiana, nobody should be surprised if the Cavs continue to struggle against the Raptors.