Cleveland, OH — Tyrese Haliburton didn’t look anything like the player recently labeled “overrated” by his peers. Instead, he looked like a leader.
With 22 points, 13 assists, and several clutch defensive stops, Haliburton guided the Indiana Pacers to a surprising 121-112 win over the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Sunday night. The fourth-seeded Pacers now hold an early edge in a series many assumed would belong to Cleveland.
“This team is supposed to beat us—we know that,” Haliburton said postgame. “But we’re here to compete. We’re trying to control what we can control.”
The Pacers, underdogs coming into the series, delivered an aggressive, up-tempo performance that caught Cleveland off guard. Haliburton’s stat line alone doesn’t tell the whole story—he hit the go-ahead three-pointer midway through the fourth quarter and blocked a crucial three-point attempt by Max Strus late in the game, turning it into a transition layup that gave Indiana a 10-point cushion.
Though Haliburton went just 2-of-6 from beyond the arc, his second make sparked a game-changing 15-4 run that put the Pacers firmly in control after trailing 102-101.
Andrew Nembhard poured in a team-high 23 points, including two triples during Indiana’s fourth-quarter surge. Pascal Siakam and Aaron Nesmith added 17 each, and all five Pacers starters reached double figures in scoring. The team’s overall shooting was lights-out: Indiana drained 19 of 36 from deep.
“We were attacking from the jump,” said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. “Yes, we made shots—but our aggressive mindset made all the difference.”
On the other side, Cleveland struggled to find rhythm, particularly from long range. The Cavs, who ranked second in the league in three-point makes during the regular season, hit just 9 of 38 attempts on Sunday—only 23.7 percent, their second-worst mark all season.
Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with 33 points and made history by breaking Michael Jordan’s record for consecutive 30-point performances in Game 1s of playoff series—his eighth straight. But he hit just 1-of-11 from downtown.
“When the shots aren’t falling, that’s when they start running,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got to find a better response when things aren’t going our way.”
Evan Mobley contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds, but the Cavs were again without starting point guard Darius Garland, sidelined with a sprained left toe for the third straight playoff game.
Cleveland, which cruised through a first-round sweep of Miami and delivered a 55-point blowout in Game 4, never found the same rhythm against Indiana’s relentless pace.
Cavs head coach Kenny Atkinson acknowledged the tempo caught his team off balance. “They dictated the rhythm,” he said. “We have to adjust. We’ll review the film and figure out the three-point issue. But we’ve got to slow the game down and get back to our style.”
Indiana once held a 12-point advantage in the third quarter before Cleveland mounted a rally. The Cavs took a brief lead early in the fourth, but the Pacers didn’t flinch.
“We stayed poised,” Haliburton said. “They came at us hard like they always do—we just weathered it.”
Game 2 tips off Tuesday night in Cleveland, where the Cavaliers will try to even the series—and keep Indiana’s momentum in check.
