Basketball <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Indiana Pacers @ Cleveland Cavaliers<\/p>\n
Current Records: Indiana 21-18, Cleveland 33-4<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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%).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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).<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Cleveland is a big 9-point favorite against Indiana, according to the latest NBA odds<\/a>.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The over\/under is 239 points.<\/p>\n See NBA picks<\/a> for every single game, including this one, from SportsLine’s advanced computer model. Get picks now<\/a>.<\/p>\n Cleveland has won 7 out of their last 10 games against Indiana.<\/p>\nSeries History<\/h3>\n
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