The Indiana Pacers trailed the Cleveland Cavaliers by 20 at one point during Game 2 of their matchup in the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs. The Cavs had already dropped Game 1 and were playing without injured stars Darius Garland and Evan Mobley (as well as key reserve De’Andre Hunter). This was set to be a win that saved Cleveland’s season and maybe bought them a little time to get healthy.
The Pacers kept chipping away in the fourth quarter, but it seemed like they were going to run out of time. When Donovan Mitchell sank a pair of free throws with under 57 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Cleveland led by seven. Seems secure enough, right? Not against Indiana.
The Pacers stunned the Cavs 120-119 in another second round thriller. A night after Aaron Gordon’s dagger stunned the Thunder, Tyrese Haliburton responded with a moment equally great to lift his team to an impossible win.
The Cavs were up three inbounding the ball with 27 seconds left. Andrew Nembhard stole a bad pass by Max Strus, and the Pacers were off the other way. Haliburton got the ball, drove the basket, and forced the refs to call a foul. He made the first free throw to cut the deficit to two with 12 seconds left.
Then things got wild: Haliburton missed the second free throw, recovered his own offensive rebound, and dribbled the ball out to the top of the key before ripping a nasty step-back jumper to give Indiana the win. Watch the play here:
TYRESE HALIBURTON WINS GAME 2 FOR THE PACERS
WHAT. A. WILD. PLAY. pic.twitter.com/rFsjZmtrBz
— NBA (@NBA) May 7, 2025
Haliburton was named the most overrated player by his peers in a poll by The Athletic only a few weeks ago. Now he has his Pacers on the verge of consecutive trips to the Eastern Conference Finals after stealing the first two games of the second round in Cleveland.
Haliburton finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and zero turnovers in the win on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. Indiana’s furious comeback was made possible by the physical two-way play of Aaron Nesmith (23 points, three blocks) and Myles Turner (23 points, five blocks). The Pacers were sloppy with the ball all night (18 turnovers), got beat on the offensive glass, and shot six fewer free throws, but somehow crawled their way to rip out Cleveland’s heart at the buzzer.
Donovan Mitchell was sensation with 48 points. The Cavs were the best team in the East all year, but the second round couldn’t be going worse for them. Garland has missed both games of this series with a sprained toe, Mobley is now out with a sprained ankle, and suddenly they are down 0-2 heading to Indiana.
It’s a shame Cleveland’s dream season could end this way. Just know Indiana took it from them.
