Just a week after achieving a rare feat, Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers etched their names further into the history books last night. Trailing by 20 points in the third quarter and by seven with under a minute remaining, the Pacers rallied for a breathtaking 120-119 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, taking a 2-0 series lead.
Haliburton capped the improbable comeback by sinking his own missed free throw and then draining a game-winning three-pointer with just 1.1 seconds left, overshadowing Donovan Mitchell’s impressive 48-point performance. This marks the Pacers’ second comeback from a seven-plus point deficit in the final minute of these playoffs, a rarity only matched once since 1998 before their recent heroics.
Even more remarkably, the Pacers became the only team in the play-by-play era to record two separate 20-point comebacks in a single playoff run, having only played seven games so far. Haliburton, who also hit the game-winner in their previous comeback against the Bucks, continues to solidify his reputation as one of the NBA’s most clutch players, boasting an astounding 90.9% success rate on game-tying or go-ahead field goals in the final two minutes this season.
Coach Rick Carlisle lauded his team’s resilience, stating, “Cleveland hit us with a hellacious punch early in the game. In the fourth, we just hung on. We maintained enough energy to get it done.” The Pacers, the NBA’s top clutch team in the regular season, outscored the Cavaliers 36-21 in the final quarter, fueled by key plays from Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, and a crucial steal by Andrew Nembhard that set up Haliburton’s game-winning sequence.