Pacers' ability to withstand 'Cavalanche" in Game 1 shows power of experience

Indianapolis Star

05-05-2025

CLEVELAND — With every third-quarter stop the Cavaliers made on defense and every forceful or dazzling bucket that followed, Rocket Arena slipped further into ear-drum piercing, white towel-waving delirium.
The towels — which read "Let 'Em Know" had been placed on every chair in the building and contrasted well with the red wine T-shirts with gold lettering that said "We Are the Diff" (meaning difference) that came with them. In the third quarter when the Cavs went on a went on a 20-4 run that included a 10-0 stretch to turn a 12-point Pacers lead into a four-point Cavs advantage, the Cleveland fans implemented those tools to create the effect of the world coming down on the Pacers ' heads, especially on the put-back bucket by Evan Mobley that gave the Cavs the lead and the acrobatic spin-move floater by Donovan Mitchell that made it a four-point advantage.
But just as the Pacers seemed to be losing their grip entirely, Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton and promising young wing Bennedict Mathurin made a play.
Haliburton drove past Cavs guard Ty Jerome and got Mathurin's defender — long-armed wing De'Andre Hunter — to help off and then leap with Haliburton when he pulled up for what Hunter had every reason to believe would be a mid-range jumper. Instead, while still in the air, Haliburton wrapped a bounce pass around Hunter to Mathurin in the right corner and Mathurin drilled a 3 that ended a drought of 3 minutes, 25 seconds without points and four minutes without a field goal.
The crowd swiftly silenced and it got even more quiet at the end of the third when Pacers center Myles Turner nailed a buzzer beating 3-pointer from the same corner that gave the Pacers a two-point lead heading into the fourth.
The No. 1 seed Cavaliers so frequently used runs like they had in the third to overwhelm teams this season that they earned the name "Cavalanche," but after the Pacers stunted that run, the Cavs never took back control in the fourth. The No. 4 seed Pacers held them to 22 fourth-quarter points to claim a 121-112 win in Game 1 of their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series Sunday, stealing homecourt advantage from a 64-18 team that posted the second-best record in the NBA and the second-best record in its history this season.
They get a chance at another road win Tuesday in Game 2.
"I thought we did a great job of weathering the storm," Haliburton said. "That Cavalanche was on its way. I thought we did a great job of weathering that, and once that happened I felt confident in our group."
The fact the Pacers had the stomach to face down that run and not let the arena get the best of them says as much about their growth and about the chance they have to pull a notable upset in this series as anything else that happened in Sunday's game. Last season, they had to play Game 1 on the road in all three series, but they never won and ended up 2-7 in playoff road games with the only victories coming Game 2 against the Bucks in the first round and Game 7 against the Knicks in the Eastern Conference semifinals. They are 2-1 in the road so far in this year's playoffs, having also won Game 4 against the Bucks after dropping Game 3. They are used to ups and downs and close games and having to hang in there when things get close.
They were 24-14 this season in games the NBA defines as "clutch" — games that are within five points at any point in the final five minutes — with only the Cavaliers, Rockets and Warriors amassing more wins. So far in these playoffs, they're 3-0 in such scenarios.
"We're a competitive group of guys," forward Aaron Nesmith said. "I think our series in Milwaukee, I just think everything we've experienced from last year and the regular season — toward the end regular season all the close games we were in — has just continued to help us in these moments. We're continuing to get better and better in the fourth quarter."
The Pacers made a point to note they were fortunate on Sunday, in part because the box score strongly suggested that exceptionally good 3-point shooting on their part and exceptionally bad shooting on the Cavaliers' part was the only reason they were able to pull it off.
Cleveland ranked second in the NBA in 3-pointers made per game (15.9) and 3-point percentage (.383) while the Pacers ranked 16th in 3s (13.2 per game) and ninth in 3-point percentage (.368). On Sunday, though, the Pacers made 19 of their 36 attempts (52.8%) while the Cavs were 9-of-38 (23.7%). Mitchell scored 33 points and as exceptional as he was at getting to the rim, he was 1-of-11 from 3-point range. Evan Mobley, Max Strus and Sam Merrill hit two 3s each, but they were a combined 6-of-18 from beyond the arc and no one else hit more than one 3.
The 30-point differential beyond the arc made up for the fact the Pacers were crushed in other usually crucial categories. The Cavaliers outscored the Pacers in the paint 70-38, and though the rebounding battle was even at 43, they grabbed 13 offensive rebounds to the Pacers' seven and turned those into 21 second-chance points to the Pacers' four. The Pacers usually win the turnover battle, but Sunday they committed 17 turnovers to the Cavaliers' eight and were outscored 22-9 on points off turnovers.
The paint figure was particularly concerning. The Pacers only gave up 70 points in the paint or more four times this season. The Cavs were 35-of-58 in the lane and 9-of-38 from 3, meaning they took two just jump shots outside the paint that weren't 3s.
"A lot of mistakes were made," Nesmith said. "We have to be better for Game 2. ... That's a lot of points in the paint and I think a lot of that is coming off of second chance points, offensive rebounds. They missed a lot of 3s today, and they're going to do better."
That being said, the Pacers' 3-pointers can't be dismissed as a case of simple shooting luck making up for shortcomings elsewhere. They were a product of ball movement, pace, opportunism off of defensive stops and of shooters who have become particularly comfortable putting the ball up in big moments.
"The key word is aggression," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "We have to be in attack mode to have a chance to beat this team. In those situations, we just encourage our guys to play free and let it ride."
A lot of the Pacers' looks were clean because they came off exceptional ball movement. Though the turnover figure was unusually high, the Pacers also had 30 assists with Haliburton dishing out 13 to go with his 22 points, Andrew Nembhard dishing out six and forward Pascal Siakam had four.
"I think the ball movement was good and they were in the rhythm," Nembhard said. "A lot of times, when a lot of guys are touching it, the ball has a better energy to it."
Some of the guys shooting it — especially Nembhard — already had a good energy. After making 29.1% of his 3s this season and making just 1-of-15 in the season's final five games, he made 11-of-22 against the Bucks, then drilled 5-of 6-on Sunday for 23 points. He hit two 3s in the fourth quarter that were both step-backs from 30 feet and beyond.
Nembhard never hit more than two 3-pointers in a game this regular season. In the playoffs he's hit three or more in four of the six games and is shooting 57.1% from beyond the arc. He has 16 3-pointers in six playoff games, which matches the number he made in the last 20 games of the regular season. That contribution comes on top of what he does as a defender taking top perimeter assignments as he spent most of Sunday night guarding Mitchell. According to NBA.com matchup data, Nembhard held Mitchell to two points on 1-of-10 shooting.
"Drew is just doing what Drew does," Haliburton said. " Come playoff time, he's unbelievable. He's unbelievable all the time, especially defensively, but his lock-in level is just unbelievable right now. He's just doing a great job of letting the game come to him and stepping into shots with confidence."
So is Nesmith, who was 4-of-6 from 3 and posted 17 points, eight rebounds and a remarkable block on a Mitchell 3-pointer that turned into one of his own 3s. He's averaging 15.2 points and 6.7 rebounds in the playoffs so far — well above his regular season averages of 12.0 points and 4.0 rebounds — while making 55% of his field goals and 54.5% of his 3s (18-of-33).
"I'm just trusting the work," Nesmith said, "knowing my rhythm, trusting my process and letting it fly."
Nembhard and Nesmith represent the Pacers' connective tissue. They're no-maintenance, good-soldier types and their big plays tend to create infectious energy. They seemed to inspire Mathurin, who was 3-of-5 from 3-point range for 11 points and also had a massive block to stop Hunter on a fast-break attempt.
It took a string of plays like that on both ends to stop the Cavs' run and to keep them from making another one, but the Pacers have enough experience now to put those together.
"We fought," Nesmith said. "We withstood their runs. We had a run of our own. They made a run. We stopped the bleeding. We continued to chip and grind away and build a little lead back for ourselves again."
The Cavaliers still feel confident and have plenty of reason to. They may get All-Star point guard Darius Garland back as soon as Game 2, they were 34-7 at home this year and never lost consecutive home games. But the Cavs also saw the value of the lessons the Pacers have learned over the past two seasons.
"This is an experienced basketball team," Mitchell said. "They're not going to waver. They've been here before."