Cavs crush Pacers, snatch 2-1 lead

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 43 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 126-104 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Friday, with the Cavs clawing back to 2-1 in their National Basketball Association (NBA) Eastern Conference semi-final playoff series.

Cleveland, the top seed in the East after racking up 64 regular-season wins, had their its back against the wall after dropping the first two games at home — the fact that no NBA team has rallied from 3-0 down to win a series making Friday’s game a must-win.

Mitchell, whose 48 points in Game Two weren’t enough to ward off a furious Pacers comeback, was magnificent again, adding nine rebounds, five assists and a steal.

He had plenty of support with the return from injury of All-Star guard Darius Garland, Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley and key reserve De’Andre Hunter.

Garland, who missed the last four games with a sprained toe, scored 10 points and Mobley, who missed one game with an ankle sprain, had 18 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots as the Cavaliers defense limited game-two hero Tyrese Haliburton to four points.

Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers scoring with 23 points off the bench, but the Cavaliers couldn’t muster the kind of magic that saw them erase a seven-point deficit in the final minute to win on Tuesday.

In Denver, Jamal Murray scored 27 points and Aaron Gordon added 22 — including a three-pointer to send it to overtime, where the Nuggets dominated for a 113-104 triumph and a 2-1 series lead over the Thunder.

Routed in Game Two, the Nuggets had to battle throughout a game that featured 15 lead changes. That included six in the fourth quarter, when neither team led by more than three.