Pacers close out Cavaliers in 5, move on to ECF

    Written by: William Petersen •

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    Picture via NBA X account

    A huge night for Tyrese Haliburton, 31 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds on 10-for-15 shooting, 6-for-10 from three led to the Indiana Pacers closing out the 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers on the road in Game 5 Tuesday night. Earlier this season Haliburton was voted by his peers as “the most overrated player in the NBA”. Haliburton now has the last laugh as his Pacers squad is going to their second-straight Eastern Conference Finals after he shot efficiently while running the Pacers offense to a tee. The Pacers combined for 26 total assists while only turning the ball over 13 times in their 114-105 win over a Cavaliers team that blew a 31-19 lead at the end of the first quarter.

    Donovan Mitchell showed no signs of having a “bum” ankle from Game 4, dropping 35 points, 9 rebounds and 4 steals but only shot 8-for-25 from the field and 4-for-13 from beyond the arc. Even with his 35 point game, Mitchell finished in the +/- category -3 which is indicative of the performance the Cavaliers displayed after their hot start in the first quarter. After putting up 31 points in the first, Cleveland did not eclipse that number for the rest of the game with their highest scoring quarter being the fourth with 29 points. While Mitchell continued to show why he is the go to guy for Cleveland, his supporting cast was almost nonexistent beside Evan Mobley’s 24 points and 11 rebounds on 8-for-12 shooting, one-for-two from three. Darius Garland continued to show that he was not 100% after finishing with 11 points on 4-for-16 shooting as well as not making a single three on six attempts.

    Cleveland continued their playoff trend of building leads in games only to blow said lead to a Pacers team that was honestly just the better team all-around throughout this series. While the Cavaliers had injury trouble to start this series, the way Indiana approached and executed this series is indicative of why they are going back to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second year in a row.

    Tyrese Haliburton has been the grunt of scrutiny when it comes to be a NBA star which seems to have only fueled his drive and commitment to proving the doubters wrong, whether he cares about that or not. Haliburton’s clutch ability stands out on the highlight reels but the team play by this Pacers club is what should really be magnified when looking back on this series. Pascal Siakam finished with 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists which helped alleviate the pressure on Haliburton offensively even though Siakam only shot 8-for-20 from the field and 2-for-5 from three. Myles Turner only finished with 10 points but every starter for Indiana scored in double figures while also getting a bench boost from Thomas Bryant who finished with nine points on four-of-six shooting from the field.

    Indiana will now await the winner of the Celtics/Knicks series which plays Game 5 tonight in Boston without their star player Jayson Tatum. Even if the Celtics can extend this series back to New York for Game 6, I have a hard time believing they will beat a red hot Knicks team that has continued to punch the defending champions in the mouth every game this series. The Pacers will probably be rooting for Boston to extend the series so they can get a little more rest, but the way Indiana has played in this playoffs, they will be a tough out for whoever they face in the ECF.

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