INDIANAPOLIS - The Cleveland Cavaliers laid an egg in the third quarter of Monday night's 111-106 road overtime victory over the Indiana Pacers.

But the errors committed in that 12-minute period somehow produced mental growth.

"We're just learning how to win, that's all," LeBron James said after registering 24 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

They held an 11-point lead going into the third built with quick-hitting bursts to the basket and a quickened tempo that Indiana couldn't match. Then all of a sudden, the Eastern Conference champs began to unravel. Cleveland stopped moving the ball, resorted to isolation and slowed down the pace.

That played right into the hands of the Pacers as they scratched and clawed their way back. Indiana crashed the offensive glass, and Cleveland failed to match the intensity.

Before you knew it, the Pacers had tied the game at 67. Banker Life Fieldhouse was deafening. Confused expressions were glued to the Cavs players' faces. They looked to head coach Tyronn Lue on the sideline for a stoppage of play and in return, he gave them the equivalent of The Heisman.

"They were looking for me to bail them out ... but I wouldn't call a timeout," Lue said. "I wouldn't even look at them. I was like, 'Y'all dug this hole, now get out of it.' Guys stuck together and we continued to fight in overtime and won the game."

While his players labored, Lue challenged his team to get tougher and persevere. The only timeout he used was early in the quarter.

"Coach definitely said he wanted us to play through it and we just tried to figure it out. We just tried to weather the storm," James added.

It was a mind-strengthening technique, one that Lue admits he learned while playing under Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson.

"I know I'm not nowhere close to Phil, but if we're going to play basketball the way we did at the end of the third quarter, then we're not going to be able to beat teams," he said. "I just wanted those guys to understand and figure it out."

They did, and then some.

Kevin Love played arguably his best all-around game as a member of the Cavaliers. His 19 points and eight boards were significant in the outcome, but his defense was even more spectacular. He played the pick-and-rolls correctly, was in the correct spot on rotations and kept the mental lapses to a minimum. He got in front of a driving Monta Ellis in the nick of time in the third to draw a charge call. The bench hopped up to applaud him.

With 48 seconds remaining in overtime, Love came away with a huge block on Paul George, who had eluded James on the perimeter. If George had scored, the Pacers would have gone up one. Love registered two steals and two blocks on the night. His teammates couldn't have asked for more.

"He gave us everything," James said of Love. "He was really, really good on both sides."

In overtime, it was Irving and James killing the Pacers with a little two-man game. It was pick-your-poison time: If the Pacers didn't hedge on the pick, one of the two turned the corner for an easy path to the basket. If they switched, it created mismatches.

The Pacers were worn out. It was too much offense to stop that late in an extended contest.

"It's kind of one of our bread-and-butter plays if we know we need to get something and get something very good," James said.

In what was Lue's biggest test of his brief coaching tenure, he passed with flying colors. His poise was projected onto his players. A coach's job isn't always about trying to get his team out of trouble; sometimes it's about allowing them to step into fire and seeing how they come out.

The third-quarter non-timeout is only going to prepare the Cavs for the postseason against elite teams.

Lue has led the charge during this five-game winning streak. The Cavaliers have slipped here and there, but overall, Lue's coaching methods have been impressive. He's made this team mentally tougher.

"It was a great win for us considering we haven't won here in six years, and I just told the guys after the game that we can't resort back to bad habits when things get tough," Lue said. "We have to continue to play the same way we've been playing."