Donovan Mitchell scored 43 points to lift the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 126-104 victory over the Indiana Pacers in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Friday in Indianapolis.
The top-seeded Cavaliers outscored Indiana by a 34-13 margin in the second quarter en route to cutting their deficit to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Sunday in Indianapolis.
Mitchell, who added nine rebounds, made 14 of 29 shots from the floor and 10 of 14 from the free-throw line. The six-time All-Star drained five 3-pointers on 13 attempts after entering the contest just 2-for-18 from beyond the arc.
Cleveland’s Max Strus collected 20 points and seven rebounds, Jarrett Allen had 19 and 12 and reigning Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley added 18 and 13, respectively, in his return from a one-game absence caused by a sprained left ankle.
Darius Garland finished with just 10 points while being plagued by foul trouble. He was playing in his first game since April 23, having recovered from a toe injury.
“(We were) down 2-0,” Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson said. “It’s kind of now or never. You’re banged up and you’re hurting. … They had to test it today. They showed a lot of fortitude. We have one day of recovery here, so it’s a quick turnaround and they can turn it around and be ready to go.”
Cleveland held a decisive 56-37 edge in rebounds, including an 18-4 advantage on the offensive end.
Indiana’s Bennedict Mathurin scored 23 points off the bench and Pascal Siakam added 18.
Star Tyrese Haliburton was limited to just four points on 2-of-8 shooting for the fourth-seeded Pacers.
Strus said on NBA.TV of the Cavaliers’ work against Haliburton, “Our team defense overall was fantastic. Everybody stepped up. It’s easy when you have two 7-footers behind you. They make my life so much easier. I don’t look out at the stat sheets and box scores. All I care about is who wins the game at the end of the day.”
Siakam made a basket on the interior to forge a 36-36 tie before Cleveland went on a 30-9 run to end the second quarter. Strus, Mitchell and Sam Merrill each made 3-pointers during that sequence.
Andrew Nembhard drained consecutive 3-pointers to trim Indiana’s deficit to 80-65 with 4:50 remaining of the third quarter. The Cavaliers, however, responded with a 9-0 run to bolster their cushion.
Siakam sank a 3-pointer to bring the Pacers within 104-93 with 8:26 to play, but Cleveland went on a 19-5 run to seal the victory.
Cleveland scored the first 11 points of the game and upped its advantage to 15 before Indiana responded by scoring 22 of the final 29 points to earn a 32-32 tie at the end of the first quarter.
“This was a very poor effort at the beginning of the game, through too many parts of the game,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. “… Pretty clearly, I didn’t have these guys ready for this. (Haliburton) had a rough game. I have to do more to get him in better positions to have better shots.”
–Field Level Media
