NewsScores
App
favorite-off
LatestFor YouPopularVideos

NBA: Pacers rout Cavs, Thunder even series

0
article-image
1 daysBasketball

After a sensational regular season, the Cleveland Cavaliers are now one loss away from an early playoff exit.

The Indiana Pacers put the Eastern Conference's top seed on the brink of elimination with a dominant 129-109 victory in Sunday's Game 4 of this second-round series, a game in which the East's No. 4 seed tied an NBA playoffs record for the largest half-time lead.

Indiana controlled the contest from start to finish en route to taking a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Pacers opened up a 41-point advantage at the half, matching the largest margin after two quarters in a post-season game that the 2017 Cavaliers set in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics.

Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 21 points and Myles Turner and Obi Toppin each had 20 for Indiana, who rested nearly all of their starters in the fourth quarter with the outcome never in doubt.

The Cavaliers, coming off a 64-18 regular season, will now try to stay alive at home in Tuesday's Game 5 while possibly being without their leading scorer. All-Star Donovan Mitchell sat out the second half of Sunday's rout with a left ankle injury and is set to undergo an MRI on Monday, according to head coach Kenny Atkinson.

Mitchell, who entered Game 4 averaging 31.3 points per game for the playoffs, was held to 12 points on 3-of-11 shooting before exiting. Darius Garland led Cleveland with 21 points and six assists.

Indiana never trailed after going on an early 9-0 run to take a 14-5 lead four minutes in. The Pacers stretched their advantage to 38-25 by the end of the first quarter as Cleveland went 4 of 15 from the field for the period, then essentially put the game away by overwhelming the Cavs in the second quarter.

The Pacers outscored Cleveland by a 42-16 margin in the second quarter to open up a whopping 80-39 lead at half-time. Turner led the way with 18 first-half points with Toppin chipping in 13 off the bench.

The game was never competitive in the second half, as Indiana led by as many as 44 points and the Cavaliers never got their deficit below 25 points until the final stages.

Thunder win low-scoring Game 4 to even series with Nuggets

The Western Conference's No. 1 seed was able to avoid going a game away from elimination as the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied for a 92-87 win over the Denver Nuggets in Game 4 of the teams' second-round series.

In a game dominated by defence, the Thunder took the lead for good early in the fourth quarter with an 11-0 run sparked by reserves Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins. Both finished with 11 points on a day no Oklahoma City starter scored more than 10 other than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who recorded 25 points to go along with six assists.

The Thunder's backups outscored Denver's second unit by a 35-8 margin to help send the series back to Oklahoma City all even, with Game 5 to take place on Tuesday.

Nikola Jokić posted 27 points and 13 rebounds for fourth-seeded Denver but was held to 7-of-22 shooting. The Nuggets shot just 31.2 per cent as a team and floundered in the fourth quarter, going 1 of 12 from 3-point range while failing to hold on to a 69-63 lead after three periods.

Neither team could generate any offence during a first quarter that ended with the Thunder owning a 17-8 lead, with the 25 combined points tied for the fewest after one period in an NBA play-off game during the shot-clock era. The Nuggets were a putrid 0 of 14 from 3-point range and 2 of 22 overall, while the Thunder misfired on 10 of their 11 attempts from beyond the arc.

Denver's struggles continued to start the second, as Oklahoma City scored the quarter's first six points to open up a 15-point advantage at 23-8.

Jokic had the final five points of the first half, however, to get the Nuggets within 42-36 at the break, and Denver put together a 16-3 run after half-time to take a 58-52 lead when Jamal Murray sank a 3-pointer with 4:47 left in the third quarter.

The Nuggets' lead was seven early in the fourth quarter before Wallace hit two 3-pointers and Wiggins had another to give Oklahoma City a 75-73 edge with eight minutes remaining.

Denver's lone made 3-pointer of the fourth quarter didn't come until Aaron Gordon drained a 25-footer with 2.1 seconds left to cut Oklahoma City's lead to 90-87. The Thunder's Jamal Williams sealed the outcome, however, by making two free throws after being fouled immediately thereafter.

Gordon compiled 15 points and 16 rebounds in the loss.