https://arab.news/r9exu
LOS ANGELES: Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points as the Indiana Pacers came from behind to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-105 and send the top seeds tumbling out of the NBA playoffs on Tuesday.
A flurry of six three-pointers from Haliburton helped Indiana wrap up a 4-1 series victory as the Cavaliers鈥� promising season fizzled out in disappointing fashion on their home court.
Haliburton鈥檚 scoring was backed by 21 points from Pascal Siakam while Aaron Nesmith contributed 13 points with 13 rebounds. Andrew Nembhard scored 18 points.
鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about eight more wins for an NBA championship,鈥� Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said after guiding his team into the Eastern Conference finals for a second straight year.
鈥淭he league is wide open this year. There are a lot of great teams but it鈥檚 wide open. We鈥檝e just gotta keep believing. We鈥檝e got a great group of guys who have committed to one another.
鈥淲e have a formula that works for us when we are really steadfast about sticking to it.鈥�
Trailing 3-1 heading into Tuesday鈥檚 game five, Cleveland looked ready to keep the series alive after surging into a 19-point lead midway through the second quarter at the Rocket Arena.
But Haliburton sparked into life to drain five-of-five from three-point range in a 15-point second quarter to flip the script and slash Cleveland鈥檚 advantage to just four points at 56-52 heading into halftime.
The Pacers鈥� scoring onslaught continued into the third quarter with the visitors outscoring Cleveland 33-20 to open up a commanding 85-76 lead as the fourth quarter got under way.
Cleveland threatened to rally in the final frame after 16 points from Donovan Mitchell, who was clearly still troubled by the sore left ankle that had threatened to rule him out of the contest.
Mitchell, who finished with 35 points, six rebounds and eight assists, closed the Indiana lead to one point at 98-97 with just over five minutes remaining after nailing a three-pointer.
But the Cavaliers鈥� failure to threaten from three-point range 鈥� they managed to convert just nine-of-35 attempts from beyond the arc 鈥� continued to be a problem and hopes of a comeback were snuffed out by the Pacers defense.
Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson lamented his team鈥檚 stalled playoff campaign which followed a dominant 64-win regular season.
鈥淭hey were the better team, they deserved it and they played great,鈥� Atkinson said of Indiana. 鈥淏ut the truth of the matter is we didn鈥檛 get to the level we wanted to get to.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not pleased with that. We鈥檙e not celebrating the season. But I do think we made strides. We took a jump 鈥� and now we鈥檝e got to figure out this last piece, and how to get over this hump.
鈥淲e had some misfortune with injuries, but I still felt like we had enough. It鈥檚 disappointing.鈥�
Fourth-seeds Indiana will now meet either the Boston Celtics or arch-rivals the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals, with the winner advancing to next month鈥檚 NBA Finals.
The Knicks lead the series with Boston 3-1 and can book a showdown with Indiana if they manage a victory over the Celtics on Wednesday.