Basketball
3rd Quarter Report
Down 13 at the end of the second quarter, the Pacers now have the lead. They have jumped out to a 77-71 lead against the Cavaliers.
The Pacers entered the contest having won five straight and they’re just one quarter away from another. Will they make it six, or will the Cavaliers step up and spoil it? We’ll know soon.
Who’s Playing
Indiana Pacers @ Cleveland Cavaliers
Current Records: Indiana 21-18, Cleveland 33-4
How To Watch
- When: Sunday, January 12, 2025 at 6 p.m. ET
- Where: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse — Cleveland, Ohio
- TV: FanDuel SN – Indiana
- Follow: CBS Sports App
- Online streaming: fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
- Ticket Cost: $34.58
What to Know
The Cavaliers are on a ten-game streak of home wins, while the Pacers are on a three-game streak of away wins: one of those streaks is about to end. The Cleveland Cavaliers will host the Indiana Pacers at 6:00 p.m. ET on Sunday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Cavaliers are strutting in with some offensive muscle as they’ve averaged 122.9 points per game this season.
If the Pacers head into halftime all tied up, they better play a good second half: that’s when the Cavaliers took over last week. The Cavaliers managed a 132-126 victory over the Raptors on Thursday. The win came about thanks to a strong surge starting at the 4:41 mark of the third quarter, when Cleveland was facing a 93-81 deficit.
Darius Garland went supernova for the Cavaliers, shooting 4-for-7 from long range and almost dropping a double-double on 40 points and nine assists. Jarrett Allen was another key player, dropping a double-double on 18 points and 15 rebounds.
The Cavaliers were working as a unit and finished the game with 31 assists (they’re ranked fifth in assists per game overall). That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they’ve now racked up at least 25 assists in 16 consecutive matches.
Meanwhile, you can’t lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely the Pacers’ strategy against the Warriors on Friday. The Pacers walked away with a 108-96 victory over the Warriors.
Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam were among the main playmakers for the Pacers as the former dropped a double-double on 25 points and ten assists and the latter dropped a double-double on 25 points and 11 rebounds. The dominant performance also gave Haliburton a new career-high in field goal percentage (80%).
Cleveland is on a roll lately: they’ve won 16 of their last 17 contests, which provided a nice bump to their 33-4 record this season. As for Indiana, their win bumped their record up to 21-18.
Looking ahead, the Cavaliers are the favorite in this one, as the experts expect to see them win by nine points. This contest will be their 22nd straight as the favorites (so far over this stretch they are 14-7 against the spread).
The Cavaliers were able to grind out a solid victory over the Pacers in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, winning 129-120. Do the Cavaliers have another victory up their sleeve, or will the Pacers turn the tables on them? We’ll have the answer soon enough.
Odds
Cleveland is a big 9-point favorite against Indiana, according to the latest NBA odds.
The oddsmakers were right in line with the betting community on this one, as the game opened as a 9-point spread, and stayed right there.
The over/under is 239 points.
See NBA picks for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine’s advanced computer model. Get picks now.
Series History
Cleveland has won 7 out of their last 10 games against Indiana.
- Apr 12, 2024 – Cleveland 129 vs. Indiana 120
- Mar 18, 2024 – Cleveland 108 vs. Indiana 103
- Nov 03, 2023 – Indiana 121 vs. Cleveland 116
- Oct 28, 2023 – Indiana 125 vs. Cleveland 113
- Apr 02, 2023 – Cleveland 115 vs. Indiana 105
- Feb 05, 2023 – Cleveland 122 vs. Indiana 103
- Dec 29, 2022 – Indiana 135 vs. Cleveland 126
- Dec 16, 2022 – Cleveland 118 vs. Indiana 112
- Mar 08, 2022 – Cleveland 127 vs. Indiana 124
- Feb 11, 2022 – Cleveland 120 vs. Indiana 113
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