A Chicken Little moment

 Look, I know better than this. OK? I know better.

I know momentum in the playoffs is a willow-the-wisp, a puff of air, as weightless and  ephemeral as the brush of a phantom's hand.

I know one game is just one game, and the next game may be an entirely different game. And I know the game after that may be so different it will feel as if it was played in a galaxy far, far away.

I know all this. And yet ...

And yet, I'm looking at Cleveland 126, Indiana 104 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semis last night, and I'm thinking the Pacers might be in trouble.

I'm thinking this even though the Pacers flat ran over the East 1-seed in Game 1 in Cleveland, then flat stole Game 2 to come back to Indianapolis up 2-0. I'm thinking this even though the Cavs winning Game 3 wasn't that tough a call, because a team that won 64 games during the regular season is not going to go down 3-0 without a fight..

And yet ...

And yet, I'm looking at Cleveland's boxscore, and I'm having a Chicken Little moment.

Evan Mobley was in that boxscore, you see. Darius Garland was. De'Andre Hunter, too.

Those are three pretty big pieces for these Cavs, and they were missing for Games 1 and 2 of this series. Which means those weren't really the Cavs the Pacers clipped up in C-town. They were the economy-class Cavs -- and it still took a miracle comeback by Indiana to win Game 2 on Tyrese Halliburton's three-ball with 1.1 seconds showing.

Last night, Mobley, Garland and Hunter were all back in the lineup. And the Cavs -- the true, luxury-class Cavs -- won by 22 on the Pacers' home floor.

Garland and Hunter scored 18 points between them, but it was Mobley who was the difference. As Donovan Mitchell put up a monster 43-point game, Mobley was the complementary backup monster: 18 points, 13 boards, four assists, three steals and three blocks. He and Hunter also contributed hugely to smothering Halliburton, who finished with just four points on 2-of-8 shooting.

You can't tell me Cleveland didn't kinda miss that in the first two games.

And so now I look ahead and I see the Cavs winning Game 4 in a grim, knucks-down battle, and suddenly it's an even series going back to Cleveland. And then the Cavs dispatch the Pacers in Game 5 at home, and suddenly the Ps are going back to Indy needing a W to stay alive.

I know, I know. Chicken Little stuff. Ignores that whole momentum-is-a-fantasy business. Also ignores the distinct possibility Tyrese will use his silencing in Game 3 as fuel, and do something Donovan Mitchell-like in Game 4.

And yet ..,

And yet.