Donovan Mitchell had 43 points and nine rebounds, and the Cleveland Cavaliers finally complete defeated Indiana, 126-104, on Friday night to reduce the advantage of the Pacers to 2-1 in the semifinal of the Eastern Conference.
Road’s team has won the three games in the series, and the Pacers will have another opportunity to break that trend on Sunday in game 4.
Cleveland was desperate to avoid falling into a hole of 3-0 and used everything in his arsenal to maintain 14 triples, containing a 56-37 rebound advantage, also depending on the defense of the area to stop high score pacemakers.
With the NBA year defensive player, Evan Mobley, Guard All-Star Darius Garland and the key support of ‘Andre Hunter adapted after game 2 to be missing, Mitchell received the support he needed.
Max Strus made four triples and ended with 20 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Three other Cleveland players also scored in double figures in one night, the CAVs led up to 26, never followed and managed to protect their late leadership when the Pacers reduced the deficit to 11 at the beginning of the fourth.
Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers with 23 points. Pascal Siakam had 18 and Tyrese Haliburton finished with four points and five assists in his first defeat at his career in a postseason game that appeared.
The most physical of the three games resulted in players routinely extended on the floor. Hunter became a hard shoulder after making a basket at the beginning of the second quarter, a collision that almost knocked him down, and Mitchell Tok an unpleasant spill in the seats of the front row line while it was called for an offensive foul.
Tempers also sometimes exploded with the pangers drawing five technical offenses, one for a delay or game.
On the court, he thought, Cleveland controlled most of the game after breaking a 36-36 draw with a 25-4 race that helped take the CAVs to a part-time cushion 66-45.
Indiana reduced it to 80-65 in the middle of the third quarter and seemed ready to achieve another rally in the fourth quarter when Siakam’s 3 with 8:24 for playing 104-93. But Mitchell and Strus responded with consecutive 3s to lead a game sealing load.
Associated Press reports
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