Pacers vs. Cavaliers Game 1: Indiana steals opener on road with 121-112 win

USA Today

05-05-2025

Pacers vs. Cavaliers Game 1: Indiana steals opener on road with 121-112 win
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Who is the real team to beat in the Eastern Conference?
Analyzing whether the Celtics or Cavaliers are better built to advance to the NBA finals.
The Indiana Pacers, on Sunday night, lived up to their name.
The Pacers ran the floor with breakneck tempo and fended off a second-half surge from the Cleveland Cavaliers to steal Game 1 of their conference semifinal series on the road, 121-112.
From the opening tip, Indiana emphasized transition offense to create open looks. And when the Pacers got those, they drained them — especially from beyond the arc.
MORE: NBA sing-a-long returns: Famous sports anthem will be back with NBC coverage
The Pacers finished the game shooting 53% from the floor (44-of-83), but the most impressive stat was Indiana's 19-of-36 (52.8%) day from 3-point range. In fact, when compared to Cleveland's nine converted 3s, that means the Pacers posted a 30-point advantage from deep.
Indiana had six players reach double-figures in scoring, with four of those putting down at least 17. Guard Andrew Nembhard, who laced 5-of-6 3s, led the way with 23 points and six assists. Point guard Tyrese Haliburton added 22 points and a game-high 13 assists.
OPINION: Nuggets should hire David Adelman now. He proved himself with win against Clippers.
Throughout most of the game, the Pacers controlled the action, taking a six-point lead into halftime.
The Cavaliers, who were down by 12 in the middle of the third, relied on guard Donovan Mitchell's 12 points in the period to spark a 20-4 run that allowed Cleveland to briefly reclaim the lead, their first since the game was 8-6 when there were nine minutes left in the first quarter.
Mitchell led the Cavaliers with 33 points to go with four assists and five rebounds, but he struggled significantly from 3-point range, making just one of his 11 attempts.
CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS PREVIEWS: NYK-BOS | IND-CLE | DEN-OKC
But, in the fourth quarter, the Pacers ripped off a 15-4 run to take an eight-point lead inside the final two minutes.
Game 2 is in Cleveland on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET, TNT).