The Indiana Pacers stunned the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road 121-112 to take Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Sunday night.
Indiana raced out to an 11-point advantage at the end of the first quarter and held a lead for the majority of the game. It wasn’t until the Pacers led by 12 midway through the third quarter after an Aaron Nesmith three-pointer that the Cavaliers began to rally.
But after clawing back the deficit and taking the lead, the Cavs came up against an inspired Tyrese Haliburton down the stretch. The guard led the Pacers on a 20-10 run to close the game, including a clutch three-pointer – only his second on six attempts on the night – and a crucial block.
“We’re definitely the heavy underdog, but we’re trying to control what we can,” Haliburton said, per the Associated Press. “It gives us a lot of momentum for sure, but this is the best team in our conference. They don’t lose much.”
Haliburton finished with 22 points, 13 assists, three rebounds, three blocks and a steal in an all-around performance, while all five of Indiana’s starters, plus Bennedict Mathurin off the bench, scored in double figures.
Andrew Nembhard had a team-high 23 for Indiana, including five-of-six from three-point range, to go with six assists.
“We had an exceptionally good shot-making night, but the key word is aggression,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said. “We’ve got to be in attack mode to beat this team.”
Indiana won despite a record-breaking Game 1 from Donovan Mitchell.
The Cavaliers guard had a game-high 33 points for his eighth-straight series opener scoring at least 30 points, breaking Michael Jordan’s previous record of seven.
Cleveland was without Darius Garland for a third straight game due to a toe injury, but got 20 points, 10 rebounds and two steals from Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley and 21 points off the bench from Ty Jerome, who continues to impress in these playoffs.
It was poor shooting from distance that ultimately cost the Cavs in Game 1, with the team going 9-of-38 from deep, including 1-of-11 from Mitchell.
“We missed a lot of good looks, and then when you miss shots, that’s when they get going in transition,” Mitchell said, per AP. “The biggest thing is, when the shots aren’t falling, how do you respond? But when a team like this runs like that, it makes it tough.”
Game 2 is in Cleveland on Tuesday.
Warriors down Rockets in Game 7
Steph Curry scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Golden State Warriors down the stretch to a 103-89 Game 7 win over the Houston Rockets.
However, it was Buddy Hield that lead the team in scoring on the night with a game-high 33 points on an absurdly efficient 12-of-15 shooting, including 9-of-11 from three to tie the record for most threes made in a Game 7.
It was quite the remarkable turnaround for Hield, who had zero points on 0-of-4 shooting in 17 minutes in Game 6.
The Warriors are the seventh No. 7 seed in NBA history to advance to the semifinals, per AP.
Curry finished the night with 22 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocks, while Jimmy Butler had 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
Fred VanVleet came up big for the Rockets in Games 5 and 6 but scored just 17 points in Game 7 on an all-around poor shooting night for the team.
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