At the Buzzer: R2G4 — Pacers 129, Cavs 109
After a flat Game 3, Indiana bounced back with a wire-to-wire win. They raced out to a 41-point halftime advantage and now have a 3-1 series lead with Game 5 on Tuesday.
Coming off a 22-point loss in Game 3 on Friday, the Pacers understood the stakes for Sunday’s matchup to close out the weekend. Win, and they take full control of the series. Lose, and it’s all even at two games apiece heading back to Cleveland, where the Cavs went 34-7 during the regular season.
The Pacers needed more from their two stars: max-contract forward Pascal Siakam and supermax point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who had just four points on eight shots in Game 3 and wasn’t made available postgame. That decision became a talking point on TNT’s pregame show — and again during the fourth quarter — when the situation could have been easily avoided. In addition to more star production, the Pacers also needed to solve the 3-2 zone that had stymied them two nights earlier.
The Cavs, meanwhile, entered with a clean injury report after listing three key players as questionable for Game 3.
The game officials were John Goble, Kevin Scott, Curtis Blair, Brent Barnaky (alternate).
The TNT announcing crew: Spero Dedes, Greg Anthony, Jared Greenberg.
Calendar note: IF the Pacers advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, they will host Game 3 on Sunday, May 25 — same day as the Indianapolis 500. … Pacers & racers in Indy.
Sports books favored the Cavs by 5.5 points for the second straight game.
Watch my live postgame show in the media player below:
🏀How it happened: From the start, the Pacers brought the traits Rick Carlisle preaches: hard play, force, and the right disposition. None of those were present in Friday’s loss, which gave Cleveland life in the series.
Haliburton opened the game with a dunk following a Siakam steal — the two stars making an early statement. Within the first 90 seconds, they saw the 3-2 zone and quickly dissected it. Two minutes in, four of the five starters had scored as the Pacers jumped out to a 12-5 lead.
The blowout was on.
Leading 22-10, a brief stoppage turned into a scuffle as Bennedict Mathurin and De’Andre Hunter exchanged shoves yet again. Mathurin initiated contact and was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul, leading to his second career ejection — both against Cleveland. Hunter was issued a technical, as was Myles Turner for stepping in to de-escalate. Why Hunter’s foul wasn’t upgraded remains unclear.
But the interruption didn’t derail the Pacers; that had to be a concern. The Cavs went two separate five-minute stretches without a field goal, and the Pacers led 38-23 after a first quarter that took more than 35 minutes to play. Indiana went 6-of-9 from deep, while the Cavs made just four total shots.
Up 15 to start the second, the Pacers scored the first 10 points of the quarter — and they didn’t let up. They repeatedly found soft spots in the Cavs’ defense, dominated in the paint (30-6 halftime edge), and connected from beyond the arc. Their 42-point second quarter gave them a 80-39 halftime lead — more points in the quarter than Cleveland had all half.