Indiana Pacers @ Cleveland Cavaliers
Sunday, May 4, 2025 at 6:00 PM ET
Rocket Arena, Cleveland, OH | Game ID: 42400201
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CLE 25 33 32 22 112IND 36 28 28 29 121
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Tyrese Haliburton ignites closing run for Pacers, who stun Cavs 121-112 in Game 1 of East semis
CLEVELAND -- — Tyrese Haliburton hardly resembled the player whose peers have deemed him overrated.
The dynamic Indiana point guard scored 22 points — including a go-ahead 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter — 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.
“We’re definitely the heavy underdog, but we’re trying to control what we can," said Haliburton, who was voted the NBA's most overrated player in a recent anonymous player survey by The Athletic. "It gives us a lot of momentum for sure, but this is the best team in our conference. They don’t lose much.”
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’s 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.
“We had an exceptionally good shot-making night, but the key word is aggression. We’ve 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 broke Michael Jordan’s NBA playoff record 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’s 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.
“We missed a lot of good looks, and then when you miss shots, that’s when they get going in transition,” said Mitchell, who was 1 of 11 on 3-pointers. “The biggest thing is, when the shots aren’t falling, how do you respond? But when a team like this runs like that, it makes it tough.”
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.
“I don’t feel like we had the rhythm of the game. We have to move forward,” Atkinson said. “The positive is we got accustomed to how they were playing. We’ll figure out the 3-point shooting.”
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.
“I thought we did a good job when that ‘Cavalanche’ was on the way. We did a great job of weathering that," Haliburton said.
IND KarmaHide StintsShow StintsHide PMShow PMHide KarmaShow KarmaHide ScoresShow Scores
Who
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
INDAN A. Nembhard
AN A. Nesmith
BM B. Mathurin
BS B. Sheppard
JW J. Walker
MT M. Turner
OT O. Toppin
PS P. Siakam
TB T. Bryant
TH T. Haliburton
TM T. McConnell
CLEDH D. Hunter
DM D. Mitchell
DW D. Wade
EM E. Mobley
IO I. Okoro
JA J. Allen
MS M. Strus
SM S. Merrill
TJ T. Jerome
IND/CLE the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur