Pacers eliminate Cavs to advance to 2nd straight Eastern Conference Finals

Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points, Pascal Siakam added 21 and the Indiana Pacers advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight year with a 114-105 victory over Cleveland on Tuesday night, eliminating the top-seeded Cavaliers in five games.

Donovan Mitchell, who missed the second half of Sunday’s game due to a sprained left ankle, led Cleveland with 35 points. Evan Mobley added 24 points and 11 rebounds.

The fourth-seeded Pacers will now await the winner of the matchup between the Boston Celtics and New York Knicks. New York has a 3-1 advantage in the series with Game 5 on Wednesday night in Boston.

The Celtics swept the Pacers last year in the East finals.

Indiana rallied from a 19-point deficit in the first half and took control after halftime as it won all three games at Cleveland’s Rocket Arena.

It is the first time since a 2005 first-round series against Boston that the Pacers won three road games in a playoff series.

The Cavs dropped three home games in a postseason series for the first time.

Cleveland stormed out to a 44-25 lead with 8:10 remaining in the second quarter before Indiana rallied.

The Pacers got within 56-52 at halftime and then shot 14 of 22 from the field in the third quarter — including four 3-pointers — to go up 85-76 going into the final 12 minutes.

Indiana seized control with a 17-2 run over a five-minute span in the third when Siakam had eight points and Haliburton five. That was part of a 29-8 spurt that saw the Pacers take a 12-point lead late in the third.

Cleveland was just 7 of 26 from the field in the quarter.

Mitchell’s 3-pointer got the Cavs within 106-103 with 1:27 remaining, but Indiana closed it out by scoring eight of the final 10 points.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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