Pacers erase deficit, grab 2-1 series lead

Bojan Bogdanovic (44) of the Indiana Pacers passes around Larry Nance Jr. of the Cleveland Cavaliers during Game 3 of their NBA playoff series Friday night. Bogdanovic scored 30 points in the Pacers’ 92-90 victory.
Bojan Bogdanovic (44) of the Indiana Pacers passes around Larry Nance Jr. of the Cleveland Cavaliers during Game 3 of their NBA playoff series Friday night. Bogdanovic scored 30 points in the Pacers’ 92-90 victory.

NBA PLAYOFFS

PACERS 92, CAVALIERS 90

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Pacers kept insisting this team was different.

Anyone who doubted them coming into the playoffs understands now.

On Friday, the anniversary of a historic playoff collapse against Cleveland, Indiana flipped the script by rallying from a 17-point halftime deficit and held on for a 92-90 victory over the Cavaliers to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. They can take command of the series by winning Sunday on their home court.

"Last year's team, I don't know if we had gone down 17, I don't know if we would have overcome it," forward Thaddeus Young said. "But this team, we've been resilient all year. We've overcome adversity."

And on Friday they did it against a Cavaliers team that was 39-0 in the regular season when leading after three quarters.

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 19 of his playoff career-high 30 points in the second half, finishing 7 of 9 on three-pointers. Victor Oladipo added 18 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists.

Bogdanovic also spent most of the game defending LeBron James, who finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds, 8 assists and 6 turnovers. He joined Michael Jordan as the only players in league history with 100 double-doubles in the postseason. Jordan had 109.

The three-time defending Eastern Conference champs were outscored 52-33 over the final 24 minutes.

"We were more aggressive in the first half. We had tempo, they didn't," James said. "Then they were more aggressive in the second half. They had tempo, and we didn't."

Young is one of the few players still around from the record-breaking, 26-point collapse last year, which is one reason Coach Nate McMillan has continually opted not to discuss it.

After the Pacers cut the 57-40 halftime deficit to 69-63 at the end of three, the Pacers continued to apply pressure and eventually Bogdanovic finally broke through with a four-point play that gave Indiana an 81-77 lead with 6:10 left. It was Indiana's first lead since midway through the first quarter.

He was far from finished.

Bogdanovic knocked down another three to make it a seven-point game.

Then, after James countered with seven consecutive points to tie the score, Bogdanovic scored on a layup and hit his final three-pointer before Young's layup made it 91-84 with 53 seconds to go.

James and Kevin Love made back-to-back three-pointers to make it 91-90, and Cleveland got one more chance after Darren Collison missed the second free throw with five seconds left.

But J.R. Smith's 38-foot heave came up short.

"It's great to be on the other end," Myles Turner said. "You never want to get down that far and have to try and come back. To be down in that position is not ideal. The resiliency of this team, it's unbelievable."

Indiana's fans booed the refs loudly throughout the first half. Then they really got upset after watching Oladipo crash hard to the floor on the final play of the half.

No foul was called and Oladipo slapped the floor before getting up and complaining.

If that wasn't enough to upset the crowd, Larry Nance Jr. walked over and started yelling at Oladipo. That's when Young stepped in and tried to play peacemaker.

Nobody was called for a technical foul.

Whether the verbal jabs provided any fuel at halftime, the Cavs weren't the same in the second half, when they were 5 of 22 on three-pointers and had 10 turnovers.

James scored 15 points over the final two quarters, while his teammates accounted for 18. After the game, James was asked about getting more support from his teammates.

"What are you guys looking for? You think I'm going to throw my teammates under the bus?" James said before the reporter explained that's not what he meant. "I'm not about that. Guys have got to play better -- including myself. I had six turnovers tonight. I was horrible in the third quarter. I couldn't make a shot. If I make some better plays in the third quarter, [it's a different game]."

WIZARDS 122, RAPTORS 103

WASHINGTON — Bradley Beal heeded his coach’s plea to “do his job” by scoring 21 of his 28 points in the first half, his All-Star backcourt running mate John Wall delivered 28 points and 14 assists, and the Washington Wizards beat the Toronto Raptors in an occasionally heated game to cut their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series deficit to 2-1.

After letting the Raptors grab the first 2-0 series lead in franchise history, the Wizards came home and checked off every box Coach Scott Brooks presented. They got Beal more involved after he made only three shots in Game 2; they actually led after the first quarter, 30-29; they played with enough defensive focus to get produce 19 turnovers by Toronto, leading to 28 points for Washington.

DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 23 points on 10-for-22 shooting one game after scoring 37, and Kyle Lowry had 19 points and 8 assists.

The start initially had the look of “Here we go again,” as Toronto moved ahead 27-18. The Raptors, after all, outscored Washington by an average of 11 points in the first period over Games 1 and 2.

BUCKS 116, CELTICS 92

MILWAUKEE — Khris Middleton scored 23 points, Giannis Antetokounmpo added 19 and the Milwaukee Bucks used a dominating first half to overwhelm the Boston Celtics, narrowing their deficit in the first-round playoff series to 2-1.

Eric Bledsoe and Jabari Parker each added 17 for the energized Bucks, who held the Celtics without a field goal for nearly an 11-minute stretch of the first half.

Backup center Thon Maker scored 14 points and blocked five shots. Pesky guard Matthew Dellavedova, a veteran of a championship run with the Cleveland Cavaliers, helped hold young Celtics point guard Terry Rozier to nine points on 2-of-7 shooting.

Al Horford scored 16 for the Celtics, who fell behind by 23 at halftime and got no closer than 76-62 with 3:06 left in the third quarter on Jayson Tatum’s three-pointer.

photo

AP/MICHAEL CONROY

Indiana’s Lance Stephenson shoots over Cleveland’s Kevin Love in the Pacers’ 92-90 victory Friday night in Indianapolis. Stephenson finished with eight points for the Pacers.

At a glance

NBA PLAYOFFS

FIRST ROUND (Best-of-7) THURSDAY’S GAMES

Philadelphia 128, Miami 108 New Orleans 119, Portland 102 Golden State 110, San Antonio 97

Golden State leads series 3-0

FRIDAY’S GAMES

Indiana 92, Cleveland 90

Indiana leads series 2-1

Washington 122, Toronto 103

Toronto leads series 2-1

Milwaukee 116, Boston 92

Boston leads series 2-1

TODAY’S GAMES

All times Central

Philadelphia at Miami, 1:30 p.m.

Philadelphia leads series 2-1

Portland at New Orleans, 4 p.m.

New Orleans leads series 3-0

Houston at Minnesota, 6:30 p.m.

Houston leads series 2-0

Oklahoma City at Utah, 9 p.m.

Series tied 1-1

Sports on 04/21/2018

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