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The Indiana Pacers emphatically pushed the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers to the brink of playoff elimination with a dominant 129-109 win to take a 3-1 series lead. After a chastening 22-point defeat at home in Game 3, a determined Pacers squad flew out of the gates and was 15 points up after the opening quarter. By the end of the second quarter, the lead hit 41, tying the largest halftime lead in NBA playoff history. The Pacers’ 80 first-half points also set a new franchise playoff record for points scored in a half, per Reuters. The Cavaliers had no answer for Indiana’s blistering offense and their hopes were further dashed when star guard Donovan Mitchell was forced to sit out the entire second half with an ankle injury. Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson, who said Mitchell will undergo an MRI on Monday, candidly described Sunday’s game as “complete domination” by the Pacers. “It’s kind of the story in every facet. It wasn’t like tactics or anything. They dominated us in every facet of the game,” he said. The Pacers were without Bennedict Mathurin, a consistent source of points off the bench in this series, for most of the game after he was ejected for a flagrant 2 foul in the opening quarter. Three Pacers players scored at least 20 points; Pascal Siakam had a joint game-high 21 to go with six rebounds, Miles Turner had 20 and seven rebounds, and Obi Toppin had 20 points. In total, seven Pacers players scored in double figures. “We haven’t done anything yet,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said, per the Associated Press. “We’re going to keep approaching this like we have everything to prove. We know people don’t believe in us, so we’re just going to stay in the fight and keep fighting.” However, it was another quiet night for Tyrese Haliburton, who had just 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting after scoring just four points on 2-of-8 shooting two nights earlier. For the Cavaliers, Darius Garland led the way with 21 points to go with six assists. Mitchell finished with 12 points on 3-of-11 shooting before getting subbed out. The series moves to Cleveland for Game 5 on Tuesday where the Pacers can book their ticket to a second straight Eastern Conference Finals appearance. “Don’t believe the hype. Keep rollin,’” Turner told TNT after the game. “We got punched in the mouth last game. We had a hell of a response, the stars set the tone and the bench picked it up the rest of the game.” Thunder down Nuggets to tie series The Oklahoma City Thunder earned a 92-87 road win over the Denver Nuggets to tie their series at 2-2. It was a game mostly bereft of offensive quality as the two teams began by combining for just 25 points in a grueling first quarter that ended 17-8 to Oklahoma City. But the experienced Nuggets gradually improved somewhat to take an eight-point lead early in the fourth quarter. However, an 11-0 run from the Thunder turned the game on its head and Denver never led again. “We fought. We stayed the course, and then we closed the game,” Thunder star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said, per AP. The leading candidate in the Most Valuable Player race, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 25 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals. Nikola Jokić, Gilgeous-Alexander’s rival to be crowned MVP, had 27 points, 13 rebounds and four steals on the night. Game 5 is in Oklahoma City on Tuesday.
