The Indiana Pacers Send Cleveland Cavaliers Home In Game 5

The Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 5 tipped off at 7 P.M. Tuesday in Cleveland. The me series is a 3-1 lead for the Indiana Pacers. The pressure was all on the Cleveland Cavaliers, who were 0-2 at home in this series. Will the Cavs handle the pressure, or will the Indiana Pacers reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight year? Let’s dive into the Game 5 action to see who comes out on top.

Pacers Had To Climb Out Of a Hole In the First Half

The game tipped off, and Andrew Nembhard scored the first basket off a Pascal Siakam assist. The first minutes of the first quarter would go back and forth with both teams able to score. At the 5:56 mark, Jarrett Allen hit a floating jump shot from 11 feet out with the assist coming from Darius Garland to make the score 13-8 Cavs lead.

The Cavs would keep the offense coming, building an 11-point lead by the end of the first quarter. The Cavs would be up 31-19 heading into quarter two. The Pacers dug themselves into an 11-point hole to start the second quarter.

The scoring would start with De’Andre Hunter hitting a running finger layup. Hunter would hit the first two shots of the second quarter with a three from 24 feet out, making the score 36-19 in favor of the Cavs. The Cavs would keep it up with the scoring with Hunter hitting a driving floating bank shot from one foot out, making the score 42-25.

Pacers Point Guard Tyrese Haliburton would then turn it over by a bad pass out of bounds, causing the team to take a full timeout at the 8:22 mark. The Pacers would come out of that timeout with determination to make a run, and a run they did. By the end of the first half, the blue and gold got the deficit down to just four with a halftime score of 56-52.

Second Half

The second half started, and the first team to score was when Evan Mobley made a turnaround fadeaway jump shot from 12 feet out. The Cavs would try to keep their lead, but the blue and gold with Haliburton had other plans. Haliburton would hit a three at the 7:58 mark from 31 feet out, with the assist coming from Nembhard, making it 64-62. The Cavs’ lead was cut down to two, and the Pacers would not look back from that point.

At the 7:04 mark of the third, Siakam would hit a three-pointer with the assist coming from Nesmith, giving the Pacers the lead for the first time since the first quarter at 65-64. The rest of the third quarter, the Pacers would lead, and by the end, led by nine with the score 85-76.

The last quarter would start with the Cavs’ Ty Jerome hitting an 11-foot jump shot. Then Mitchell would get fouled on a three-point shot, and he would hit all three free throws, making the score 85-81 at the 11:05 mark.

The Cavs would not go away as Darius Garland would get it to a one-point game after hitting two free throws at the 8:53 mark, making 88-89. That would be as close as the Cavs would get the rest of the game, as the Pacers would win 114-105 in game five to take the series 4-1.

Final Thoughts

The Pacers are heading to their second straight Eastern Conference Finals after sending the Cavs home. The Player of the Game would be Haliburton, who finished the game with 31 points, 8 assists, and 6 rebounds in Game 5. The biggest takeaway for me is that the blue and gold are a serious contender for the NBA Championship. This team plays together, and not one player is bigger than the team. Stay tuned to Total Apex Sports for everything you need to know about the NBA Playoffs.