Pacers oust Cavs; Nuggets on brink

LOS ANGELES (AFP) — The Indiana Pacers came from behind to send the Cleveland Cavaliers crashing out of the National Basketball Association (NBA) playoffs on Tuesday as the Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a dazzling Nikola Jokic display to push the Denver Nuggets to the brink of elimination.

Cleveland — the top seeds in the Eastern Conference — saw its postseason come to an abrupt halt after Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points to power the Pacers to a 114-105 victory, sealing a 4-1 series triumph.

Western Conference top seeds Oklahoma City grabbed a 112-105 victory over Denver to edge into a 3-2 lead in their titanic duel with the 2023 champions.

Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic delivered a towering performance for Denver, the Serbian star finishing with 44 points, 15 rebounds and five assists.

But Jokic’s heroics were in vain as the Thunder -- who had trailed for most of the game -- unleashed a fourth-quarter bombardment to outscore Denver 34-19 and seal a pulsating win.

Jokic’s rival for this season’s Most Valuable Player award, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, scored 31 points on a night when six Thunder players finished in double figures.

“Throughout the game it’s full of swings -- you make shots, you miss shots. We just trusted in our principles, and two games in a row now we’ve been able to pull out a W (win),” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

“You’re only as good as your weakest link and all 10 of our guys are ready to go. All we care about is winning the game. We got one tonight and we got one more.”

The loss leaves Denver facing a must-win game six in Colorado on Thursday to avoid an early end to their postseason.

“This is a really disappointing loss, and the guys should be disappointed,” Denver’s interim head coach David Adelman said.

“We have to bounce back quickly to win game six and give ourselves a chance to come back.”

The Cavs, though, are already making their summer holiday plans after bowing out to the Pacers in Cleveland.

A flurry of six three-pointers from Haliburton helped Indiana wrap up a series victory as the Cavaliers’ promising season fizzled out in disappointing fashion on their home court.

Haliburton’s scoring was backed by 21 points from Pascal Siakam while Aaron Nesmith contributed 13 points with 13 rebounds. Andrew Nembhard scored 18 points.

“We’re talking about eight more wins for an NBA championship,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said after guiding his team into the Eastern Conference finals for a second straight year.

“The league is wide open this year. There are a lot of great teams but it’s wide open. We’ve just gotta keep believing.”