Indiana Nears East Finals After Annihilating Cleveland

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Indiana Pacers moved a dub away from returning to the Eastern Conference finals following a demolition exhibition on the Cleveland Cavaliers, 129-109, in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference best-of-seven semifinal playoff series on May 12, 2025.

Despite receiving a rude welcome in their first home game when the Cavaliers demolished them in Game 3, the Pacers didn’t let their guard down and refused to fold two times in a row in front of their die-hard fans.

Indiana didn’t let Cleveland gain any footing during the match and stretched their biggest lead of the ball game to 44 points in the second quarter.

From a dry shooting spell in Game 3, the Pacers made it up with an impressive 15/35 conversion from downtown, an edge that they leaned on in repelling the Cavaliers at home.

Indiana also out-assisted Cleveland by 17 dimes, 37-20, wearing down Cleveland’s mixed-zone defense with their crisp ball movement.

Flashback to Game 3, Indiana’s comeback attempt got halted when Cleveland ran a 1-2-2 zone in the first four minutes of the third, followed by a 1-3-1 zone to finish the quarter.

Cleveland’s integration of the zone made it hard for Tyrese Haliburton to cut to the middle, a reason why they had to give up the first game at home to go back to the drawing board.

Rejuvenated and equipped with the counter plan, Indiana attacked Cleveland’s zone with relentless penetrations that steered them to a waxing hot start in Game 4.

Aside from penetrating straight to the teeth of Cleveland’s frontcourt, the Pacers also made one game-changing adjustment, and that was to place Myles Turner at the top of the key.

By doing so, Haliburton had the option to pitch a pop pass if Turner pulled back to the three-point line, or just throw the overhead directly to him and watch him do his post-work.

Those minor details prevented the Cavaliers from holding them off defensively, resulting in an early double-digit cushion in the first half.

When the Pacers pushed their lead to 40 points, the Cavaliers showed bothered body language and got lazy defending the pick-and-roll and the perimeter.

Cleveland’s chief tactician, Kenny Atkinson, then waved the white flag in the fourth and decided to pull out all of his starters for the whole final 12 minutes of the ball game.

Pascal Siakam led the Indiana rampage with 21 points, missing only a single attempt from the field out of 10 tries. He also stuffed the stat sheets with six rebounds, three assists, and a steal.

Aside from Spicy P, Turner and Obi Toppin also delivered huge performances by chipping in 20 markers apiece, followed by Ben Sheppard who fired 14 points built from two treys.

On the other hand, the Cavaliers’ woes continued after their superstar Donovan Mitchell failed to get back into the ball game due to a sprained ankle injury he suffered in the second quarter.

Mitchell only logged in 20 minutes and recorded 12 points, a rebound, a steal, and one block before heading to the locker room.