The Indiana Pacers secured home-court advantage in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 114-112 win over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday in Indianapolis.
With the New York Knicks’ loss to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, the Pacers (49-31) could still earn the No. 3 seed in the East if they win their final two games while the Knicks (50-30) lose out.
Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers with 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and dished out 10 assists. Aaron Nesmith added 22 points on 7-of-14 shooting and Jarace Walker chipped in 15 points off the bench.
Ty Jerome paced Cleveland (63-17) with 24 points and De’Andre Hunter added 23 points and 11 rebounds. Craig Porter Jr. added 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting off the bench. Sam Merrill tallied 15 points on five 3-pointers, going 4-of-4 from deep in the fourth quarter.
The Cavaliers were without Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Max Strus. Only Mobley’s absence was attributed to rest, though the assumption is that load management played a role in all four absences with the Cavaliers having clinched the No. 1 seed in the East on Tuesday.
Haliburton buried 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to put the Pacers ahead 113-107 with 3:08 remaining. The Cavaliers fought back and earned a chance to tie or win the game on the final possession, but Jaylon Tyson’s turnaround attempt at the buzzer was no good.
Cleveland appeared to be unraveling going into the fourth quarter, but Merrill had other plans. The 28-year-old shooting guard made three 3-pointers in the first 2:47 of the final frame to help the Cavaliers pull ahead 93-88 with 9:13 remaining. Indiana responded with a quick rally to trim Cleveland’s lead to 93-92 with 8:24 left.
Consecutive 3-pointers by Hunter then pushed the Cavaliers’ lead to 102-95 with 7:13 remaining. The Pacers answered with another rally to tie the game at 107 with 4:11 to play on a Haliburton layup.
With Indiana trailing 76-66 with 4:14 remaining in the third, Nesmith scored on consecutive possessions to kickstart a go-ahead 12-0 run for the Pacers. The rally culminated with a TJ McConnell layup with 1:16 remaining to give the Pacers their first lead of the second half at 78-76.
Cleveland regained an 82-81 lead in the waning moments of the frame despite coach Kenny Atkinson being ejected for drawing two straight technical fouls.
–Field Level Media
