Cavaliers vs Pacers Game 2 Recap

The Indiana Pacers defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 120-119 to take a 2-0 lead in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Cleveland was up by as much as 20 points and controlled most of the game. Indiana refused to go down and outscored Cleveland 36-21 in the 4th quarter.

The Cavaliers were up 7 points with a minute to go. In these playoffs, Indiana has shown that no lead is safe regardless of how much time is left.

Indiana continues to make history

This year’s Indiana team is 2-0 in playoff games where they trailed by 7 points with a minute left in the game. In the last 20 years, every other team has a combined record of 1-384.

Tyrese Haliburton missed a free throw, grabbed the offensive rebound and nailed a stepback 3-pointer to win the game for the Pacers.

The Pacers’ point guard has shown his clutch gene in these playoffs, as he hit a series winning floater in the previous round against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Haliburton finished with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. 11 of those 19 points came in the 4th quarter.

It was a collective team effort from Indiana.

Myles Turner scored 23 points and displayed defensive dominance with 5 blocks.

Aaron Nesmith continues his string of impressive playoff performances by also scoring 23 points and getting 3 blocks.

Andrew Nembhard had a double-double as he notched 13 points and 13 assists.

Off the bench, Bennedict Mathurin contributed 19 points.

Cleveland is in trouble

Cleveland’s dream season is now in serious jeopardy of turning into a nightmare as they now trail 0-2 in the series.

The injury bug couldn’t have hit at the worst time for the Cavaliers. Entering Game 2, Cleveland would be missing Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and De’Andre Hunter.

Garland and Mobley have been pivotal to Cleveland’s success all season. The Cavs acquired Hunter at the trade deadline in hopes that he would be the piece to put them over the top. Missing these key players was a huge blow for Cleveland.

Donovan Mitchell had a monstrous performance as he finished with 48 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists. Mitchell did all he could to keep the Cavs in the game, but it was not enough.

Max Strus stepped up as he poured in 23 points, grabbed 8 boards and dished out 4 assists.

Jarrett Allen would have sole responsibility of manning Cleveland’s frontcourt without his running mate Mobley. Allen produced 22 points, 12 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Ty Jerome started in place of Garland. Jerome had an extremely disappointing night as he finished with 2 points on 1-for-14 shooting.

Sam Merrill provided 14 points and 4 rebounds off the bench.

The rest of the Cavaliers combined for just 10 points.

Cleveland has completely lost home court advantage. They will now have the daunting task of attempting to win in Indiana, where the Pacers have been undefeated so far this postseason, with a 3-0 record.

Indiana will look to get one step closer to reaching their second consecutive Eastern Conference Finals.

Game 3 of this series is on Friday.

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