The Indiana Pacers came from behind to send the Cleveland Cavaliers crashing out of the NBA playoffs on Tuesday as the Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a dazzling Nikola Jokic display to push the Denver Nuggets to the brink of elimination.
Cleveland — the top seeds in the Eastern Conference — saw their postseason come to an abrupt halt after Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points to power the Pacers to a 114-105 victory, sealing a 4-1 series triumph.
Western Conference top seeds Oklahoma City grabbed a 112-105 victory over Denver to edge into a 3-2 lead in their titanic duel with the 2023 champions.
Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic delivered a towering performance for Denver, the Serbian star finishing with 44 points, 15 rebounds and five assists.
But Jokic’s heroics were in vain as the Thunder — who had trailed for most of the game — unleashed a fourth-quarter bombardment to outscore Denver 34-19 and seal a pulsating win.
Jokic’s rival for this season’s MVP award, OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, scored 31 points on a night when six Thunder players finished in double figures.
“Throughout the game it’s full of swings — you make shots, you miss shots. We just trusted in our principles, and two games in a row now we’ve been able to pull out a W (win),” Gilgeous-Alexander said.
“You’re only as good as your weakest link and all 10 of our guys are ready to go… All we care about is winning the game. We got one tonight and we got one more.”
The loss leaves Denver facing a must-win game six in Colorado on Thursday to avoid an early end to their postseason.
“This is a really disappointing loss, and the guys should be disappointed,” Denver’s interim head coach David Adelman said.
“We have to bounce back quickly to win game six and give ourselves a chance to come back.”
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: Joshua Gateley/Getty Images
