The Indiana Pacers secured a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals by defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-105. Tyrese Haliburton led with 31 points, while Pascal Siakam contributed 21. The Pacers eliminated the top-seeded Cavaliers in five games.
Donovan Mitchell, despite a sprained left ankle, scored 35 points for Cleveland. Evan Mobley added 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Indiana’s victory was notable as they overcame a significant deficit. The Pacers trailed by 19 points in the first half but managed to turn the game around after halftime. They won all three games at Cleveland’s Rocket Arena, marking their first time winning three road games in a playoff series since 2005 against Boston.
Cleveland initially took a commanding lead of 44-25 with over eight minutes left in the second quarter. However, Indiana rallied to close the gap to 56-52 by halftime. In the third quarter, Indiana shot impressively, making 14 of 22 shots, including four three-pointers, to take an 85-76 lead into the final quarter.
A critical moment came when Indiana went on a decisive run in the third quarter. They executed a 17-2 surge over five minutes, with Siakam scoring eight points and Haliburton adding five. This was part of a larger 29-8 run that gave them a substantial lead late in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, in the Western Conference semifinals, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points to help Oklahoma City Thunder defeat Denver Nuggets 112-105. This win gave Oklahoma City a 3-2 lead in their series. Despite Nikola Jokic’s impressive performance with 44 points and 15 rebounds for Denver, Oklahoma City prevailed.
Jokic made an impressive 17 of his 25 shots during the game. Jamal Murray added another 28 points for Denver but struggled with accuracy, hitting only ten out of his twenty-seven attempts. No other Denver player scored more than thirteen points.
Oklahoma City’s Strong Finish
The Thunder started strong with a quick lead of 12-2 as Denver missed eight of its first nine shots. Although Denver rallied to lead by eleven in the second quarter, Oklahoma City closed strongly and trailed only by two at halftime. Jokic had already accumulated nineteen points and nine rebounds before halftime.
In the third quarter, Denver took control as Murray scored thirteen points and Jokic added twelve more to give them an eighty-six to seventy-eight advantage going into the fourth quarter. However, Lu Dort’s three consecutive three-pointers helped cut down Denver’s lead significantly midway through this period.
A pivotal moment occurred when Jalen Williams hit a crucial three-pointer with just over one minute remaining that gave Oklahoma City a narrow lead at one hundred six to one hundred three. Gilgeous-Alexander then extended this advantage further with another three-pointer forty-eight seconds before time expired.
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