TYRESE Haliburton knocked down a booming triple with 1.1 seconds left and the Indiana Pacers hacked out an improbable 120-119 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of their best-of-seven semifinal series in the Eastern Conference on Wednesday (Philippine time), May 7.

The Pacers still won despite trailing by seven points, 112-119, with only 57 seconds left as the top-seeded Cavaliers suffered a major meltdown that dropped them to a 0-2 hole in the series.

With momentum clearly on their side, the Pacers could break the series wide open when they host Games 3 and 4.

Cleveland played without a pair of injured starters, Evan Mobley and Darius Garland. Key reserve De’Andre Hunter was also out for the Cavaliers.

Despite the manpower woes, the Cavaliers still looked dominant and even led by as many as 20 points. It looked like victory was within reach when the Cavaliers built a seven-point cushion with less than a minute to play.

Tragedy then struck for the Cavaliers as the Pacers ended the game with an unbelievable 8-0 blast.

Indiana’s great escape was made possible after Andrew Nembhard came up with a steal. Haliburton was then fouled by Ty Jerome while driving to the basket.

Haliburton made the first free throw but missed the second. He, however, collared the offensive rebound, pulled the ball back out before pulling up for a triple at the top of the key.

The shot hit nothing but the bottom of the net, and the Cavaliers were forced to make a heave that missed badly, sealing the Pacers’ frenetic victory.

Myles Turner and Aaron Nesmith were Indiana’s top scorers with 23 points each. Haliburton scored 19 points, 11 of them he made in the final quarter.

All Indiana starters scored in double figures with Pascal Siakam and Nembhard chipping 13 and 12 points, respectively. Benedict Mathurin came off the bench to deliver 19 markers.

Donovan Mitchell led the Cavaliers with a game-high 48 points while Max Struss and Jarrett Allen pitched in 23 and 22 points, respectively.(CCM)

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