Game Rewind: Pacers 121, Cavaliers 116 (In-Season Tournament)

Friday, Nov. 3 at 7:00 PM ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse

The first-ever win in NBA In-Season Tournament history belongs to the Indiana Pacers.

Debuting a special court and their 2023-24 CITY EDITION jerseys, the Pacers (3-2) won in style on Friday night, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers (2-4) 121-116 in a thriller at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Indiana led by 17 points at the break, by a point after three quarters, and came up clutch on both ends of the floor down the final stretch against their Central Division foe.

With 16 seconds left in the game, Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton hit a step-back jumper just inside the 3-point arc to put the Blue & gold by three points. On the ensuing play, Pacers center Myles Turner blocked a dunk attempt by Cavs 7-footer Evan Mobley with 11 ticks remaining before pulling down the rebound on the next possession.

From there, Haliburton drained four total free throws in the final 7 seconds to put the game away.

“The crowd was amazing tonight,” Haliburton said. “I feel like, last year as well, anytime we play Cleveland there’s more juice to that game, there and here. I feel like it’s a good matchup for both of us. We both enjoy competing against each other. We’re two up-and-coming teams in this league, young teams. Them being in our division, those games are usually up.”

Friday’s game impacted the regular season standings and IST group play. Indiana will play its second game of the IST on Nov. 14 at Philadelphia, go to Atlanta on Nov. 21 and host Detroit on Nov. 24 to conclude group play. Teams will then advance to the Knockout Rounds. Learn more about the IST here.

Six Pacers players finished in double-digit scoring, led by a season-high 27 points from Turner, 19 points by Bruce Brown and 18 points and 13 assists from Haliburton. Haliburton has now achieved a double-double in all four games he’s played.

Seven players scored in double figures for the Cavs, led by 38 points  from Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell, who shot 14-for-21 from the floor also had nine assists and five rebounds in the game, and Mobley finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

As a team, the Pacers shot 45-for-86 (14-for-31 from 3-point range) while the Cavs finished 44-for-84 (8-for-28 from 3-point range) from the field.

In the first half, the Pacers shot 56.5 percent (9-for-16 from 3-point range) while limiting the Cavs to 48.9 percent, including 4-for-16 from deep.

Turner beat his season-high for points in a game in the first half alone, posting 22 in the opening 24 minutes on 7-for-8 shooting (4-for-4 from 3-point range) to go along with five rebounds to help the Pacers to a 70-53 lead. Mitchell had 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting in the first half.

Before the start of the game, both teams shared positive news on their injury reports.

Haliburton and backup center Jalen Smith were both active tonight after missing Wednesday’s night game against the Boston Celtics while point guard Darius Garland played for the Cavs, after missing three straight games, and 6-foot-9 forward/center Jarrett Allen made his season debut.

In the first quarter, the Pacers shot 56 percent overall and made as many 3-pointers (five) as they did total in Wednesday’s loss to Boston.

Turner set the tone early for the Pacers, opening the game with a dunk on the first possession off a feed from Haliburton. The Pacers then strung together a 10-2 run – on five points by Turner and Bruce Brown each – to lead 10-5 just 90 seconds into the game.

A 7-2 run, anchored by a 3-pointer from Buddy Hield, pushed the Pacers ahead 22-13, and in the final 1:16 of the frame the Pacers scored seven unanswered points thanks to steals from Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin to go up 36-26.

The Pacers used a 10-2 scoring spree midway through the second quarter to lead  58-43 with three minutes left in the half. From there, the Pacers kept the pressure on, as Turner drained a fourth 3-pointerand Obi Toppin slammed home an alley-oop from Haliburton to push the lead to 17 points at the break.

In the third quarter, the Cavs outscored the Pacers 34-18. The visitors shot 68.4 percent in the frame while limiting the Pacers to 36.4 percent shooting.

The Cavs took advantage of a trio of Pacers turnovers out of intermission to open the half on a 13-4 run, narrowing the score to 74-66 with 7:31 left in the third quarter. Out of a timeout, the Cavs continued chipping away, going on an 11-4 run thanks to 3-pointers from Mitchell and Max Strus, to make it a one-possession game at 79-77 with 4:25 on the clock.

Cleveland took its first lead of the game at 85-84 with 1:53 left in the third quarter, but buckets by Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard helped keep the Pacers ahead at 88-87 going into the final 12 minutes.

The teams traded the lead four times to start the fourth quarter before tying at 97 with 8:15 left in the game. A basket by Caris LeVert and a 3-pointer by Strus put the Cavs up 105-101 with 6:21 left, prompting a timeout.

Out of the huddles, Brown got a layup to go before Nesmith stole the ball and Hield nailed a 3-pointer, and Haliburton got a floater to put the Pacers back ahead 108-105 with 4:56 remaining. Another trey by Hield -- his fourth of the game -- extended the Pacers lead to 113-106, but buckets by Mobley and Mitchell, and free throws from Garland, made it 113-112 with 2:16 remaining.

Down the final stretch, the teams battled it out, but the Pacers were able to put it away.

“The first half was one of the best we’ve played all year. The third quarter was rough, but the fourth quarter we held strong and got it done,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “ It was a strong show of character for our team. Cleveland has a lot of weapons, and comes at you hard. It was a bend-don’t-break kind of game for us. I’m really happy for our guys.”

The Pacers are back in action tomorrow when they host the Charlotte Hornets for the second leg of their first back-to-back of the season. Last season, the Pacers won the season series 2-1 against the Hornets.

Indiana outrebounded Cleveland 40-35, including 7-5 in offensive boards.

The Pacers bench outscored the Cavs reserves 46-30.

The Pacers shot 16-for-24 from the free throw line and the Cavs finished 20-for-25 from the line.

The Pacers assisted on 28 baskets.

Indiana had a season-high 18 turnovers.

The Pacers have limited their opponents to eight 3-pointers or fewer in two of the last three games.

Off the bench, Buddy Hield (14 points), Jalen Smith (13 points) and Aaron Nesmith (13 points) all scored in double figures.

The Pacers are 3-0 when scoring 100 or more points this season.

“Tonight was insane, bro. I think that the fans really brought it tonight. Especially in that fourth quarter, they had that little Freddie Mercury thing going. That’s something I expect from this city. They show up night in and night out. To have that atmosphere in the first In-Season Tournament (game), it was good stuff.” – Myles Turner on the atmosphere during the game

“I think the biggest thing was this was a division opponent. At the end of the day, this is a team that we’ve seen quite a few teams. And coming off of last game, we had to get our mojo back, if you will.” -Turner on the focus tonight

“When I get going early, I think that the confidence is there. But more than anything, I have to be the defensive leader on this team. I just have to be. I know my shots are going to fall. Before this night, I wasn’t shooting that great. I had a good shooting night tonight. Getting those going early is always night, but I think my focus at the beginning of the game is more on the defensive side of things, trying to anchor what we’re trying to accomplish.” -Turner on his fast start to the game

“I’m really happy for him, really proud of him. I think that he came in here last year and tried to find a role for himself and he’s grown upon that role this offseason. He’s more effective with the ball, he’s shooting the ball well, plays his heart out. It’s what this city wants to see. And he’s the $33 million-dollar man. I’m happy for him.” -Turner on Aaron Nesmith

“Shots just aren’t going in. I’ve just to stay true to what I do, stay true to my work and trust that…Shots will start to fall. It’s only game five. You guys know I’m a perfectionist, so there’s a part of me that’s ready to hit the panic button, but at the same time, we’re 3-2, we’re winning games. That’s all that matters in the NBA.” -Tyrese Haliburton on fighting through a shooting slump

“It was like the first game this year where it came down the stretch and we needed to get a stop or something to finish the game. I feel like we did a really good job with it. We’ll all just keep growing and learning. It’s only game five. I feel like as a team, our bench, everybody was engaged tonight. Everybody was engaged at the end there, talking about what we wanted to do and talking through stuff. From one to 15, it felt like everybody was in there talking to guys. When everybody’s engaged in there, it’s really good and I think it keeps us from making mistakes.” -Haliburton

“In his new role, we’re not playing as much together. You guys know we have a really good synergy together. I thought tonight Coach made some good moves. The substitutions at five minutes were a little different tonight. I enjoyed playing with him a little more, getting him going. But it’s him trusting in what he does, his work. He works his tail off every night.” – Haliburton on Buddy Hield

“We hung in. Our second unit was in there during a tough period of time and they manufactured enough baskets for us to have a one-point lead going into the fourth quarter. That’s big – leading going into the fourth is a big indicator of probability to win.” – Carlisle on the third quarter

“Buddy (Hield’s) shot-making in the fourth was huge. Buddy has made a really great effort defensively. He’s studying it, he’s playing harder than he’s ever played defensively and really wants to win. We got a lot of guys that care and this is an important win for us.” – Carlisle on Hield

“Our fans like this team and they’re connecting with this team. You can tell. They’re chanting Buddy’s name out there and stuff like that … it’s pretty cool.” – Carlisle on the atmosphere

“Our pregame discussion and our prep was all about the kind of game this was going to be. The kind of game they were going to bring to us and take to us. … This is a tough-minded team and are very physical. They had Garland and Allen back … which makes it even tougher. The crowd getting into it, us getting key stops at the right times, were key things.” -Carlisle

“A tribute to coach (Bob) Knight. Just a show of respect for everything that he’s meant not only to IU  and the state of Indiana but to basketball overall...I wrote him a letter to him one time when I was in college, he was going to be the Olympic coach in ‘84. I think I wrote him a letter in ‘83 to try to get his attention to possibly get a shot at the Olympic trials. He wrote me a personal letter back that I’ve kept to this day. I always thought that was an extremely classy thing to do – he didn’t even know me at the time.” – Carlisle on wearing a red sweater pregame

“He works at his craft. His recognition keeps getting better. He’s a hard-playing guy.” – Carlisle on Nesmith

The Pacers shot 15-for-31 from 3-point range in the win against the Cavs, bouncing back from a 5-for-37 3-point shooting performance at Boston on Wednesday.

The Pacers are back in action on Saturday for the second leg of a back-to-back when they host LaMelo Ball and the Charlotte Hornets . Find Tickets >>