Tyreese Halliburton grabbed a missed free throw, filling in the three pointers with 1.1 seconds left, and took command of the series with a 120-119 victory over the short-handed Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The Pacers scored their final eight points on Tuesday after Donovan Mitchell made two free throws to push Cleveland’s lead to 119-112 in 57 seconds. Aaron Nesmith and Pascal Siakam’s baskets made it a one-man game, and Andrew Nenbird stole an inbound pass from Max Strath afterwards.
Halliburton pulled out a foul with 12.4 seconds left, making his first free throw, making it 119-117 and grabbed a mistake in the second. He dribbled over the arc before making a 3-pointer and completed an Indiana comeback from 20 points.
“Obviously we’ve been lucky,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “We hit another great shot to beat Thailand. This doesn’t look very often. He went through again, not to mention twice in a week. We’re very fortunate.”
“I’m at peace with my game,” Halliburton said. “I understand that I’m trusted at these moments…it’s a special feeling. I pay a lot to play kids’ games and I have so much fun doing it.”
Mitchell scored 48 points, nine assists, five rebounds and four steals for the top-seeded Cavaliers, who had no three key players.
Cleveland lost the first two games of the series at home for the first time since 1996.
“We outperformed them for the majority of the game, but we ran out of gas,” said Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson. “We couldn’t separate ourselves. All our possessions, they enhanced our physicality.”
“It’s hard to put all of this into words,” Carlisle said. “Cleveland hit us with a Herabas punch early in the game. For the fourth time, we’re just hanging out. We kept enough energy to get it done. They somehow found a way.”
Nesmith and Miles Turner each scored 23 points, while Halliburton scored 11 of 19 points in the fourth quarter. Benedict Matlin added 19 points, while Nenbird collected 7 points and seven rebounds along with 13 points, 13 assists and seven turnovers for the fourth seed Indiana.
Mitchell, a six-time All-Star, scored 12 points in the first, 15 points in the third, and 12 points in fourth in the electrification performance. He made 15 of 30 field goal attempts and 17 of 21 on free throws.
“Mitchell had a heroic game,” Carlisle said. “But now we’re deeper than them. I think we were wearing them.”
“Everyone was tired, but they were tired,” Halliburton said. “The wear effect had a lot to do with it.”
Strus scored 23 points and Jarrett Allen scored 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers. Sam Merrill scored 14 from the bench.
“We outperformed them for the majority of the game and then we had a mental revocation,” Allen said. “Now, ‘Can we replicate it?” They took advantage of all the mistakes we made in the end. ”
Power forward Mobley and Hunter were injured on Sunday in Game 1 on consecutive fourth quarter possessions that were not considered fouls. Garland has not played against the heat since April 23rd.
Mobley lands on Turner’s foot, the latter sliding underneath him in a shot while Hunter dislocates his thumb as the dunk fell after being blocked by matrine.
Atkinson, who was named NBA Coach of the Year earlier this week, expressed his dissatisfaction with three minutes of responses after practice and pre-game Monday, eliciting a response from Carlisle.
“I don’t want to see players get injured,” Carlisle said. “It sabotages our hell.”
Game 3 of the Top 7 Series will move to Indianapolis on Friday.
