The Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night came from behind to send the Cleveland Cavaliers crashing out of the NBA playoffs as the Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a dazzling Nikola Jokic display to push the Denver Nuggets to the brink of elimination.
Cleveland — the top seeds in the Eastern Conference — saw their post-season come to an abrupt halt after Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points to power the Pacers to a 114-105 victory, sealing a 4-1 series triumph.
Western Conference top seeds Oklahoma City grabbed a 112-105 victory over Denver to edge into a 3-2 lead in their titanic duel with the 2023 champions.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic delivered a towering performance for Denver, with the Serbian star finishing with 44 points, 15 rebounds and five assists.
However, Jokic’s heroics were in vain as the Thunder — who had trailed for most of the game — unleashed a fourth-quarter bombardment to outscore Denver 34-19 and seal a pulsating win.
Jokic’s rival for this season’s MVP award, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, scored 31 points on a night when six Thunder players finished in double figures.
“You’re only as good as your weakest link and all 10 of our guys are ready to go... All we care about is winning the game. We got one tonight and we got one more,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
The loss leaves Denver facing a must-win Game 6 in Colorado today to avoid an early end to their post-season.
“This is a really disappointing loss, and the guys should be disappointed,” Denver interim head coach David Adelman said. “We have to bounce back quickly to win Game 6 and give ourselves a chance to come back.”
The Cavs are already making their summer holiday plans after bowing out to the Pacers in Cleveland, Ohio.
A flurry of six three-pointers from Haliburton helped Indiana wrap up a series victory as the Cavaliers’ promising season fizzled out in disappointing fashion on their home court.
Haliburton’s scoring was backed by 21 points from Pascal Siakam, while Aaron Nesmith contributed 13 points with 13 rebounds. Andrew Nembhard scored 18 points.
“We’re talking about eight more wins for an NBA championship,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said after guiding his team into the Eastern Conference Finals for a second straight year. “The league is wide open this year. There are a lot of great teams, but it’s wide open. We’ve just gotta keep believing.”
Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson lamented his team’s stalled playoff campaign, which followed a dominant 64-win regular season.
“They were the better team; they deserved it and they played great,” Atkinson said of Indiana. “But the truth of the matter is we didn’t get to the level we wanted to get to.”
Fourth seeds Indiana are to meet either the Boston Celtics or archrivals the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, with the winner advancing to next month’s NBA Finals.
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