The Indiana Pacers on Sunday thrashed the Cleveland Cavaliers 129-109 to take a 3-1 stranglehold on their NBA playoff series as the Oklahoma City Thunder edged the Denver Nuggets to level their series at two games apiece.
Pascal Siakam scored 21 points to lead seven Pacers players in double figures as Indiana pushed Eastern Conference top seeds Cleveland to the brink of elimination in their best-of-seven conference semi-final.
There were no such offensive fireworks in Denver, where Oklahoma City squelched the Nuggets’ second-half comeback bid to claim a gritty 92-87 victory in a game where both teams struggled to get shots to fall.
Photo: AP
In Cleveland, the Pacers already had the game well in hand, with an 80-39 halftime lead, when the Cavs announced that star Donovan Mitchell was doubtful to return for the second half with a left ankle injury.
Mitchell, coming off back-to-back 40-point games, scored 12 points in the first half, but was clearly hurting when he tested his ankle prior to the start of the second half.
His loss would be a body blow for a Cleveland team hoping to fend off elimination when they host game five today.
Coach Kenny Atkinson said Mitchell would have an MRI scan and he had “no idea” if Mitchell would be available for game five.
Despite the Pacers’ dominance, there was no shortage of emotion.
Indiana reserve Bennedict Mathurin was ejected with 4:32 left in the first quarter for a punch to De’Andre Hunter’s chest. Hunter received a technical foul for responding with a two-handed shove that sent Mathurin sprawling, while Indiana’s Myles Turner got a technical for wading into the fray.
Up 38-23 after one quarter, the Pacers piled it on in the second period, a 17-0 scoring run pushing their lead to 78-37 on the way to an 80-39 halftime lead.
Cleveland made just eight baskets in the first half while the Pacers put on an offensive display.
A Turner basket at the rim, off a no-look pass from Tyrese Haliburton, sent the Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd into a frenzy.
The Pacers were also on-target from deep, making 12 of their 15 three-pointers in the first half.
“This is a group that plays better through adversity,” Turner said of the Pacers’ rebound from their game-three defeat. “We got punched in the mouth last game, we had a hell of a response. The starters set the tone, and the bench picked it up the rest of the game.”
Turner and Obi Toppin added 20 points each for Indiana and Haliburton finished with 11. Darius Garland led Cleveland’s scoring with 21 points, but the Cavaliers gave up 22 turnovers leading to 35 Pacers points.
In Denver, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 points with six rebounds and six assists to lead Oklahoma City, but the Thunder connected on just 31 of 87 shots from the field — only marginally better than the Nuggets’ 25-for-80 success rate.
NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for Denver, who shook off a dismal start and grabbed a 53-52 lead midway through the third quarter on a three-pointer from Aaron Gordon.
Jamal Murray and Christian Braun scored 17 points each and Gordon added 15 as Denver extended the lead to eight points early in the fourth.
However, less than 48 hours after a draining overtime triumph on Friday in game three, the Nuggets failed to capitalize.
Oklahoma City regained the lead on Cason Wallace’s three-pointer with 8:35 to play and held on until the end.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
RSS