INDIANAPOLIS, April 8 (Ticker) -- A pair of long scoring droughts against one of the NBA's worst teams may prove very costly for the Indiana Pacers.

Ricky Davis scored 32 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers overcame a 12-point third-quarter deficit and rallied for a 111-99 victory over the Pacers.

A 3-pointer by Reggie Miller gave Indiana a 69-57 lead with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter and prompted the Cavaliers to call a timeout. After breaking the huddle, Cleveland scored the next 11 points to get within 69-68 with 1:47 left in the period.

The Pacers finally ended their 5 1/2-minute scoring drought on a reverse layup by Ron Mercer. Jermaine O'Neal converted another that gave Indiana a 73-70 edge with just over a minute to go.

NBA TV highlights from Cavs-Pacers: 56k | 300k Davis in the Crunch: 56k | 300k Budget Fastbreak: 56k | 300k Tyrone Hill may have had the ball poked away on this play, but he and the Cavs had the last laugh against the Pacers. Ron Hoskins NBAE/Getty Images

But Indiana went cold again as Davis and the Cavs took control. Davis scored 19 points in final period and the Pacers did not make a basket for nearly eight minutes.

"I just got a lot of easy baskets," said Davis, who has topped 20 points in seven of his last eight games. "I have a point guard to feed me the ball and get me the ball in good situations. I was just feeling it and I was in a zone in the fourth quarter. I think we play better when we are looser. We seem to be playing better when the pressure is on the other team."

"Ricky Davis, what could you say?" Cleveland forward Tyrone Hill added. "He played fantastic. For him to score 19 the way he did in the fourth quarter, he pretty much carried us down the stretch."

The Cavaliers took the lead for good, 83-81, on Chris Mihm's tip-in with 9:09 left. Davis followed with a jumper and a fadeaway and Andre Miller hit a basket to extend the margin to 89-83 with seven minutes remaining.

O'Neal's layup with 4:10 to play ended the drought, but by then, Cleveland had a 95-88 lead. Indiana shot just 3-of-12 in the fourth quarter and fell 1 1/2 games behind Toronto for the final Eastern Conference playoff berth. The Pacers were beaten by the Raptors on Sunday.

Indiana was outscored, 16-3, down the stretch Sunday and has squandered double-digit leads 10 times.

"Tonight was a tough night for everybody," Pacers coach Isiah Thomas said. "We'll meet and practice tomorrow and try to get everybody's spirits up. You can't quit. Confidence is everything for a young player."

Indiana faces Toronto again Wednesday.

"D-Day is Wednesday," Pacers center Brad Miller said. "We have to have that game. It's going to take my grandma going to church a lot to get us there."

After O'Neal's hoop, Davis scored nine of Cleveland's next 11 points to push to lead to 106-94 with 1:19 to play.

The Pacers missed seven shots during each of the droughts and ended up at 43 percent (33-of-76). They also were outrebounded, 50-32.

"They shot the ball well, rebounded well, but we continued to hurt ourselves someway and somehow," Indiana rookie point guard Jamaal Tinsley said. "We let them get too many loose balls and too many good open looks. And when they got them, they knocked them down. We didn't appear to have an answer for this. I can't say we can put it behind us and move on because it hurts all of us and we are really down."