The Indiana Pacers’ jumped out to a 2-0 series lead after sweeping the first seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in their first attempts to defend home court. A tight game until the end leaned in Indiana’s favor in game one, but a seemingly impossible comeback was needed to come out on top in game two.
“With 48 seconds left on the clock Tuesday, the Cleveland Cavaliers led the Indiana Pacers 119-112, a hard-fought win in hand after entering the night significantly shorthanded,” wrote Yahoo Sports’ Jack Baer. “With zero seconds left on the clock Tuesday, they were wondering what on Earth happened. The short answer is Tyrese Haliburton happened.”
With 12.1 seconds left, Tyrese Haliburton was fouled with his team trailing by three. He made the first free throw, but missed the second. Haliburton then got his own rebound and hit a step back three with a second on the clock to give his team the 120-119 win on the road.
ESPN then uncovered the full absurdity of the comeback.
“What a stat from ESPN Research: Since 1997-98, teams are 3-1,640 when trailing by 7+ in the final minute of the 4th quarter/OT,” ESPN’s Jamal Collier shared. “The Pacers, this postseason, have 2 of those wins.”
The first came in a game five win against Milwaukee last week, and the second just happened in Cleveland. As Baer put it, the Pacers’ had a “0.076% chance of winning both games, which is roughly equivalent to a 1-in-1,316 shot.”
The Shorthanded Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers entered game two short three key players, All Star Darius Garland, big man Evan Mobley, and bench threat De’Andre Hunter were all ruled out before the game began. Two of the three injuries were suffered in game one, and although head coach Kenny Atkinson didn’t call the plays out right dirty, he felt that the plays required more attention from NBA officiators.
“What I want to make sure is that we have our best players playing in the playoffs,” Atkinson said during his pregame media session. “It bothers me that we have a defensive player of the year, All-Star, and a great player like De’Andre Hunter that are [out] for this game because in my opinion, all three of those plays were excessive.”
Garland has not played since game two of the Miami Heat series in the opening round of the playoffs, and ESPN’s Collier reports that the Cav’s will be taking it slow as far as his return is concerned.
“He was running on a treadmill Tuesday near the team’s practice court, but Atkinson said the team will be cautious with playing Garland at less than 100%,” Collier reported. “The toe gives him issues cutting and running, which is especially problematic when trying to keep up with a fast Pacers offense.”
Pacers’ Two Wins Away From Advancing To Second Straight Conference Finals
The Pacers’ entered the series as nearly two-to-one underdogs to advance to the next round. Now, after back to back victories on the road, the Pacers’ have completely flipped the script and currently sit as two-to-one favorites to advance.
It will take a great effort from a beat up one seed to turn this series around.
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