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Advantage, Indiana Pacers.
The Pacers, fourth in the Eastern Conference, entered their second-round series against the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers as heavy underdogs. But suddenly, the ball is in their court.
After upsetting Cleveland Game 1, they overcame a 20-point deficit thanks to Tyrese Haliburton to take a commanding 2-0 lead, winning both games on the road.
Indiana had slowly chipped away, but Cleveland looked like they were going to go on the road evening up the series, as they led by seven with less than 50 seconds to go.
But Aaron Nesmith threw down a dunk, and Donovan Mitchell was called for an offensive foul two seconds later. Pascal Siakam hit a layup with 27.1 seconds, making it a three-point game.
The Cavs called a timeout, but it did nothing, as they turned the ball over on the inbound. They then fouled Haliburton, who made just one of two, but Haliburton got his own rebound. He then hoisted up and cashed a stepback three to go up 120-119, which would turn out to be the final score, with 1.1 seconds left.
It was a crusher for Cleveland, whose best player in Mitchell dropped 48 points in a losing effort.
Haliburton scored 11 of his 19 points in the final 12 minutes.
It’s the first time the Pacers won the first two games of a playoff series on the road since 1994 against Orlando.
The Cavs were missing three key players: NBA Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley (left ankle) and key reserve De’Andre Hunter (right thumb) were injured in Game 1, while Darius Garland (left big toe) missed his fourth straight postseason game.
Game 3 is at Indiana on Friday night, as Indiana looks for a second consecutive appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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