



Tyrese Haliburton made a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining and the visiting Indiana Pacers scored the final eight points in 47.9 seconds to stun the short-handed and top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers 120-119 on Tuesday night to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference semifinals series.
Haliburton scored 11 of his 19 points in the final 12 minutes. After Andrew Nembhard stole an inbounds pass by Cleveland’s Max Strus with 27.5 seconds remaining, Indiana tried to find a potential tying 3-pointer before Haliburton drove inside and got fouled.
He made the first free throw, but missed the second. Haliburton got the offensive rebound and dribbled out to the 3-point line, where he made it from the top of the key.
Myles Turner and Aaron Nesmith led No. 4 seed Indiana with 23 points apiece.
Donovan Mitchell scored 48 points for Cleveland, which was missing three key players, including two starters. NBA Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley (left ankle) and key reserve De’Andre Hunter (right thumb) were injured in Game 1, while Darius Garland (left big toe) missed his fourth straight postseason game.
Celtics, Thunder look to bounce back: The Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder looked very much like the dominant teams they were during the regular season in securing lopsided first-round playoff series wins.
Suddenly, both teams are facing their first dose of adversity this postseason following Game 1 losses to open Round 2.
The Celtics missed an NBA playoff-record 45 of their 60 3-pointers and blew a 20-point lead in a 108-105 overtime loss to the New York Knicks.
The West’s top-seeded Thunder will look to recover after surrendering a 42-point scoring night to Nikola Jokic and 3-pointer to Aaron Gordon in the closing seconds of their 121-119 loss to the Denver Nuggets.
“This isn’t the first time we’ve handled adversity,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Tuesday. “This isn’t the first time we’ve handled adversity in the playoffs. The team has made a great habit of that. We have to continue to do that.”
For Boston, it was a stunning result for a team that was 4-0 against its longtime rival during the regular season.
Most glaring was the Celtics’ performance from beyond the arc in clutch time during Game 1 against the Knicks. In the clutch, defined as the final five minutes of fourth quarter or overtime when the scoring margin is five points or less, the Celtics were just 1-for-8 from 3.
In their 11 clutch losses during the regular season, Boston shot just 12-for-44 (27.3%) from 3.
Still, coach Joe Mazzulla said it isn’t something that needs a dramatic overcorrection heading into Game 2.
“You have to be able to make open shots,” Mazzulla said Tuesday. “If the open ones go in, we’re not having this conversation.”
OKC’s Presti executive of year: Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder was announced Tuesday as the NBA’s executive of the year, the reward for building that team into a juggernaut that won a league-best 68 games this season. The Warriors’ Mike Dunleavy was seventh.