Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

NBA Makes Cavaliers-Pacers Announcement After Game 3

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated May 10, 2025 12:24 AM ET

For two games in Cleveland, it appeared that nothing could or would go right for the Cavaliers in their conference semifinals series against the Pacers. Cleveland led both Games 1 and 2 late in the action, but managed to lose both times, including blowing a seven-point lead in the final 57.1 seconds in Game 2.

It did not help that the team was without three rotation players—Darius Garland, DeAndre Hunter and Evan Mobley—because of injuries. But on Friday, they got those three players back on the floor, and despite going on the road to play in Indiana, the Cavs put forth a convincing wire-to-wire win, with Indiana never holding a lead and the score tied for only 45 total seconds.

The Cavs vowed to stay in the fight, though.

Said star guard Donovan Mitchell after Game 2: “Take care of business. We got no choice but take care of these games otherwise we'll be done. The biggest thing is we should've had Game 2, but we didn't.

"We can sit here and dwell on this and be home in about 4-5 days, or we can move on and take some things that we did really well and go from there."

On Friday, the Cavs wound up securing a 126-104 victory, with its roster finally fully healthy. Mitchell led the way with 43 points, but Mobley added 18, and guard Max Strus had 20.

After the game, with the possibility of a sweep having been avoided, the NBA announced an update to the scheduling for next Tuesday, May 13. The Pacers and Cavaliers are now slated for a Game 5, the league said, to be played at 7 p.m. ET on TNT. That game will be followed by Nuggets-Thunder.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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