Online Reporter
Pascal Siakam scored 21 points and Myles Turner and Obi Toppin each added 20, lifting the Indiana Pacers to a 129-109 rout of the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series on Sunday in Indianapolis.
The fourth-seeded Pacers hold a 3-1 lead over the top-seeded Cavaliers in the best-of-seven series. Indiana can punch its ticket to its second straight conference final with a victory in Game 5 in Cleveland tomorrow.
To add injury to insult for the Cavaliers, Donovan Mitchell sat out the second half with a left ankle injury. The six-time All-Star finished with 12 points on 3-of-11 shooting from the floor.
Turner, Siakam and Toppin combined to make 25 of 37 shots from the floor and 7 of 10 from 3-point range for the Pacers, who rebounded from a 22-point loss in Game 3.
Indiana outscored the Cavaliers by a 42-16 margin in the second quarter to take an 80-39 lead at halftime. The Pacers set a franchise-playoff record for points in a half and an NBA postseason record for assists in a half (25) in the play-by-play era (1998).Ben Sheppard scored 14 points, T.J. McConnell added 13 and Aaron Nesmith had 12 for the Pacers.
Meanwhile, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 points as the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder rallied from eight down in the fourth quarter to beat the Denver Nuggets 92-87 in Game 4 on Sunday to even the Western Conference semifinal series.
Oklahoma City regained home-court advantage in the best-of-seven series and will host Game 5 on Tuesday night.
Despite 27 points and 13 rebounds from Nikola Jokic, Denver missed an opportunity to put a stranglehold on the series.
Christian Braun and Jamal Murray had 17 points each and Aaron Gordon finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds for the Nuggets.“This isn’t a funeral,” Murray said. “It’s 2-2. It’s a three-game series.”
Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace scored 11 each, Alex Caruso and Jaylen Williams scored 10 apiece, Isaiah Hartenstein had 14 rebounds and Chet Holmgren grabbed 13 boards for the Thunder.“Kind of lost our way defensively, especially in the third, but did a great job of course-correcting to start the fourth,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. “That group to start the fourth was huge to give us a lead, and then the defense down the stretch was really, really good.”
Murray airballed a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left and the Thunder closed it out.
“Give their team credit,” said Nuggets interim coach David Adelman.
“In a disgusting basketball game, they did enough to win.”
Sunday’s game tipped off approximately 38 hours after Denver’s Game 3 overtime win.
The collective fatigue showed early when the teams combined to shoot 18.2 percent in the first quarter.Oklahoma City led 17-8 to match the lowest combined score in the opening period of a playoff game. Portland (14) and Utah (11) did it May 20, 1999, and Detroit and Toronto also managed just 25 points on April 21, 2002. —Reuters.
