Indiana Pacers 120 – Cleveland Cavaliers 119 (May 6th, 2025)

Source: Jason Miller / Getty

(CLEVELAND, OH) – The Indiana Pacers complete another miraculous comeback with a Tyrese Haliburton game winning three to take a 2-0 series lead over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

1. First Quarter

In game one on Sunday night, the Cleveland Cavaliers were without Darius Garland. To start game two, they were without Evan Mobley, De’Andre Hunter, and Garland. The starters for the Cavs were Donovan Mitchell, Ty Jerome, Max Strus, Dean Wade, and Jarrett Allen. Indiana’s starters were Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, and Myles Turner. The Pacers got off to a splendid start, jumping out to an early 7-2 advantage following a triple for Nesmith. Cleveland came back and tied the game with an 8-2 run to take a 10-9 lead with 6:40 left in the quarter. Turner would tie the game at 11 with two free throws forty seconds later, but things started going array from there. The Cavaliers outscored the Pacers in the final 6:02 of the quarter 21-4 to take a commanding 32-15 advantage to the second quarter. After hitting just nine threes in game one, Cleveland converted four of its eight attempts in the opening quarter. The Cavaliers were led by Mitchell with 12 points, 2 assists, and 2 steals. A key contributor for them was Sam Merrill off the bench with three triples. Indiana didn’t have anyone with more than four points in the first quarter. The Pacers went 5/16 (31.2%) from the field, 1/8 (12.5%) from the three-point line, and turned the ball over a staggering nine times.

2. Second Quarter

After failing to close the first quarter with momentum, the Pacers rebounded to start the second quarter. Wade splashed a three to start the scoring, but Indiana had their first mini run following the successful shot to trail 35-21 when T.J. McConnell knocked down a pullup jumper. The Pacers would not let the Cavaliers extend their lead beyond sixteen points the rest of the half. In fact, Turner connected on a free throw line jumper with 5:47 left in the half to cut the deficit to eight points. That was the closest the Pacers would get after falling behind by 20 points in the quarter. Indiana would threaten to carry a single digit deficit into halftime when Turner converted a three-pointer off an offensive rebound by Nembhard with 39.1 seconds left to make it a 57-49 game. Cleveland outscored Indiana by three points in the final seconds of the half to carry a 61-50 lead into intermission. Mitchell had another stellar quarter, recording 9 points and 3 assists to bring his first half total to 21 points and 5 assists. Cleveland got another three triples in the quarter from one of their shooters, this time it was Strus. Turner was responsible for 11 of Indiana’s 35 points in the second quarter, and 15 of the team’s 50 points in the half. Cleveland outscoring Indiana by 13 points off turnovers, a9 points on threes, and 7 points on second chance points.

3. Third Quarter

The second half started with both teams struggling to put the ball through the hoop. The advantage for Cleveland remained at eleven with 8:54 left in the third quarter, and then the Cavs went on a run. They matched their largest lead of twenty when Strus cut to the goal and dunked the basketball, making it 81-61 with 6:51 remaining in the period. Indiana hit back-to-back threes from Nesmith and Toppin to make it a two-touchdown game. Rick Carlisle elected to roll with five bench players after the Toppin three to try and buy his starters some rest to make a push in the fourth quarter. Indiana’s reserves were able to hold serve the rest of the way and go to the fourth quarter down 98-84. Mitchell scored another 15 points in the quarter, bringing his total to 36 points after three quarters of play. Mathurin led Indiana in scoring with 10 points in the quarter. Allen added 10 points for Cleveland in the quarter. Turner paced Indiana in scoring through three quarters with 19 points. Haliburton was relatively quiet with 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists in 24 minutes.

4. Fourth Quarter

With Carlisle’s strategic move to rest his starters the final four minutes of the third, they were out there to start the fourth quarter with Mitchell on the bench for Cleveland. Indiana started the quarter with five consecutive points to make it a 98-89 ballgame after a Mathurin layup. Cleveland called a timeout to get Mitchell and Allen back into the game as the lead was quickly going away. With 6:58 left in the game, the Pacers were only down five after another bucket by Mathurin, the closest Indiana had been since the first quarter. The Cavs pushed their lead back to eight points because of Mitchell carrying the offense. With 2:31 left in the game, Indiana was down 113-106 after Mitchell split two free throws. Indiana would not give up even though the odds were against them. Haliburton drove to the basket off a missed layup by Mitchell to bring Indiana within four. On the following possession for Cleveland, Strus drilled a triple to go back up by seven points with 1:06 remaining. Indiana called a timeout and drew up a play for Haliburton to get to the basket with only three seconds coming off the clock. Indiana fouled Mitchell, and he converted both freebies to put his team back up by seven points. The unthinkable happened again for the Pacers. Siakam went to the line and missed two free throws, but on the second miss, Nesmith came in and dunked it off the miss to make it a five-point contest. He then drew an offensive foul on Mitchell to give the Pacers a chance with 45.9 seconds left. Allen blocked an attempted layup by Haliburton, but Indiana retained possession and scored on a Siakam layup. With 27.5 seconds left, Cleveland called its final timeout. Strus threw away the inbound pass right to Nembhard, giving Indiana a chance to tie. Haliburton got fouled on a shot as he was trying to get to the basket. He made the first free throw but missed the second. Turner tipped the loose ball towards Haliburton, and he dribbled out to midcourt to reset the offense. He got Jerome on his heels and hit the step back three pointer from the top of the arc to give Indiana a 120-119 lead with 1.1 seconds left. Merrill could not get the shot off, and Indiana stuns Cleveland to take a 2-0 series lead.

5. Top Performers

Myles Turner (23p, 8r, 5b), Aaron Nesmith (23p, 4r), Tyrese Haliburton (19p, 9r, 4a), Bennedict Mathurin (19p), Andrew Nembhard (13p, 13a, 7r, 2s), and Pascal Siakam (12p, 6r, 4a). For Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell (48p, 9a, 5r, 4s), Max Strus (23p, 8r, 4a), Jarrett Allen (22p, 12r, 3b), and Sam Merrill (14p, 4r, 2s). For tonight’s full box score, click here.

6. Notes

• Indiana has won the first two games of a series on the road for the second time in franchise history
• Indiana now has two of the three largest comeback victories in the final 48 seconds of a game
• Since 1996-1997, when play-by-play data became available, teams trailing by 7+ points at any point in the final 48 seconds of the fourth quarter, or any OT period in the playoffs, are 3-1,679
  • Indiana has 2 wins in the last 8 days
• When the road team wins first 2 in best of seven series, they win the series 86% of the time (24-4)
• Cleveland is now 0-4 when Donovan Mitchell takes 28+ shots
• Cleveland has shot below 30% from three-point range in back-to-back games for the first time this season
• Aaron Nesmith’s 21 points are a new career high in a playoff game
• Andrew Nembhard recorded his second career playoff double-double
• Andrew Nembhard’s 13 assists are the most in a playoff game in his career
• Andrew Nembhard’s 8 turnovers are the most in any game of his career
• Bennedict Mathurin’s 19 points are a career high in a playoff game
• Donovan Mitchell’s 48 points are the most points scored against the Pacers in a playoff game in franchise history
• Donovan Mitchell has scored 40+ points in 6 playoff games in his career
• Donovan Mitchell has scored 30+ points for the 4th time in 6 playoff games
  • 29th playoff game with 30+ points
• Jarrett Allen has scored 20+ points in 4 playoff games in his career
• Jarrett Allen recorded his 9th double-double in the playoffs in his career
• Max Strus set a new playoff career high with 23 points
  • Only third time in his career he’s scored 20+ points in a playoff game
• Tyrese Haliburton joins LeBron James (2018) as the only players in NBA the last 20 years to hit game winning shots with less than 2 seconds in a single playoff run

7. Next Up

The two teams will have two days off before playing game three in Indianapolis on Friday night. Pregame coverage with Pat Boylan will start at 7pm, followed by play-by-play coverage at 7:30pm from Mark Boyle and Eddie Gill at 7:30pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan.