Indiana Pacers oust top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in NBA Playoffs, with Denver Nuggets on the brink

CLEVELAND – The Indiana Pacers came from behind to send the Cleveland Cavaliers crashing out of the National Basketball Association play-offs on May 13, 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.

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.

But his 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, OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, scored 31 points on a night when six Thunder players finished in double figures.

“Throughout the game, it’s full of swings – you make shots, you miss shots. We just trusted in our principles, and two games in a row now we’ve been able to pull out a W (win),” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

“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.”

The loss leaves Denver facing a must-win Game 6 in Colorado on May 15 to avoid an early end to their post-season.

“This is a really disappointing loss, and the guys should be disappointed,” Denver’s 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, though, are already making summer holiday plans after bowing out to the Pacers in Cleveland.

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 up 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 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 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, reduced Indiana’s lead to 98-97 with just over five minutes remaining after nailing a three-pointer.

But the Cavaliers’ failure to threaten from three-point range – they managed to convert just nine of 35 attempts from beyond the arc – continued to be a problem and hopes of a comeback were snuffed out by the Pacers defence.

Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson lamented his team’s stalled play-off campaign, which followed a dominant 64-win regular season.

“They were the better team, they deserved it and they played great,” he said of Indiana.

“We didn’t get to the level we wanted to get to. I do think we made strides. We took a jump – and now we’ve got to figure out this last piece, and how to get over this hump.”

Fourth-seeds Indiana will meet either the Boston Celtics or arch-rivals the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, with the winners advancing to the NBA Finals in June. AFP