Tyrese Haliburton grabbed his own missed free throw and buried a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining, giving the visiting Indiana Pacers a 120-119 win over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, taking a commanding lead in the series Tuesday night.
The Pacers scored the final eight points after Donovan Mitchell made two free throws to push Cleveland’s lead to 119-112 with 57 seconds left. Baskets by Aaron Nesmith and Pascal Siakam made it a one-possession game, and Andrew Nembhard stole the subsequent inbounds pass from Max Strus.
Haliburton drew a foul with 12.4 ticks remaining, making his first free throw to make it 119-117, then grabbed his miss on the second. He dribbled beyond the arc before making the 3-pointer to complete Indiana’s comeback from 20 points down.
“Obviously, we got lucky,” said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. “Ty hit another amazing shot to win the game. You don’t see this very often, let alone twice in one week. Tyrese, he came through again. We’re very fortunate.”
“I’m at peace with my game,” said Haliburton. “I understand that I’m trusted in these moments. … It’s a special feeling. I get paid a lot of money to play a kids game and I’m having a lot of fun doing it.”
Mitchell amassed 48 points, nine assists, five rebounds and four steals for the top-seeded Cavaliers, who were without NBA Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley (left ankle sprain), All-Star point guard Darius Garland (left big toe sprain) and key reserve De’Andre Hunter (right thumb sprain).
Cleveland lost the first two games of a series at home for the first time since 1996, when it was swept by the Knicks in a best-of-three matchup. The Cavaliers have won just 7 of 13 home games during their current three-year playoff streak.
“We outplayed them for most of the game, but we ran out of gas,” said Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson. “We couldn’t separate ourselves. Every possession, they just upped their physicality.”
“It’s hard to put all this in words,” said Carlisle. “Cleveland hit us with a hellacious punch early in the game. In the fourth, we just hung on. We maintained enough energy to get it done. Give the guys credit, they somehow found a way.”
Nesmith and Myles Turner each scored 23 points and Haliburton had 11 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter. Bennedict Mathurin added 19 points and Nembhard collected 13 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds, along with eight turnovers, for fourth-seeded Indiana.
Mitchell, a six-time All-Star, scored 12 points in the first, 15 in the third and 12 in the fourth in an electrifying performance. He made 15 of 30 field goal attempts and was 17-of-21 on free throws, setting career highs in free throws made and attempted.
“Mitchell had a heroic game,” said Carlisle. “But right now, we’re deeper than them. I think we wore them down.”
“Everybody was tired, but they were tired,” said Haliburton. “The wear-down effect had a lot to do with it.”
Strus had 23 points and Jarrett Allen posted 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who led 81-61 midway through the third. Sam Merrill scored 14 off the bench.
“We outplayed them for the majority of the game, then we had our mental lapses,” said Allen. “Now it’s, ‘Will we be able to replicate it?’ They capitalized on every mistake we made at the end.”
Power forward Mobley and Hunter were both injured Sunday in Game 1 on consecutive fourth-quarter possessions that were not deemed fouls. Garland has not played since April 23 against the Heat.
Mobley landed on the foot of Turner, who slid under him on a shot, while Hunter dislocated his thumb while falling after his dunk was blocked by Mathurin.
Atkinson, named NBA Coach of the Year earlier this week, expressed his displeasure in three-minute responses Monday after practice and before the game, eliciting a response from Carlisle.
“Nobody wants to see players get hurt,” Carlisle said. “That disturbs the hell out of us.”
–Field Level Media
