CLEVELAND (AP) 鈥 Tyrese Haliburton hardly resembled the player whose peers have deemed him overrated.
The dynamic Indiana point guard scored 22 points 鈥 including a go-ahead 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter 鈥 had 13 assists and made crucial defensive plays that propelled the Pacers to a 121-112 victory over the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely the heavy underdog, but we鈥檙e trying to control what we can,” said Haliburton, who was voted the NBA’s most overrated player in a recent by The Athletic. “It gives us a lot of momentum for sure, but this is the best team in our conference. They don鈥檛 lose much.鈥
About the only thing Haliburton didn’t do well was shoot 3-pointers. On a night when the fourth-seeded Pacers were 19 of 36 from beyond the arc, Haliburton was 2 of 6. But the second one ended up being decisive.
The Cavs went ahead 102-101 on a free throw by Max Strus before Haliburton鈥檚 3 ignited a 15-4 run.
Andrew Nembhard scored 23 points and made two of his five 3-pointers during the four-minute stretch when the Pacers pulled away.
鈥淲e had an exceptionally good shot-making night, but the key word is aggression. We鈥檝e got to be in attack mode to beat this team,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said.
All five Indiana starters scored in double figures. Aaron Nesmith and Pascal Siakam had 17 points apiece.
Haliburton’s standout defensive plays included blocking a 3-point attempt by Strus with 2:12 left and converting it into a layup for a 10-point lead. His assists led to 34 points, including eight 3-pointers.
Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 33 points and with his eighth straight game of at least 30 points in a series opener.
Evan Mobley added 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who were without point guard Darius Garland for the third straight playoff game due to a sprained left big toe.
Besides struggling with Indiana鈥檚 pace, Cleveland was done in by poor 3-point shooting. The Cavs were second in the NBA during the regular season with 15.9 3s per game, but went 9 of 38. The 23.7% rate was their second-worst of the season.
鈥淲e missed a lot of good looks, and then when you miss shots, that鈥檚 when they get going in transition,鈥 said Mitchell, who was 1 of 11 on 3-pointers. 鈥淭he biggest thing is, when the shots aren鈥檛 falling, how do you respond? But when a team like this runs like that, it makes it tough.鈥
Cleveland rarely trailed in its first-round sweep of the Miami Heat that included a 55-point victory in Game 4.
Coach Kenny Atkinson was worried about Indiana’s pace coming into the series. He’s hoping his team can find ways to control the flow during Game 2 on Tuesday night.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like we had the rhythm of the game. We have to move forward,鈥 Atkinson said. 鈥淭he positive is we got accustomed to how they were playing. We鈥檒l figure out the 3-point shooting.鈥
Indiana had a 12-point lead in the third quarter before Cleveland rallied. The Cavs grabbed the lead in the fourth, but couldn’t hang on and close it out.
鈥淚 thought we did a good job when that 鈥楥avalanche鈥 was on the way. We did a great job of weathering that,” Haliburton said.
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