Cleveland Cavaliers at Indiana Pacers

Pacers build 41-point halftime lead and rout Cavaliers 129-109 for a 3-1 series lead

On Sunday, they delivered an emphatic answer.

Pascal Siakam scored 21 points, Myles Turner and Obi Toppin each scored 20 and the Pacers tied an NBA playoff record with a 41-point halftime lead before blowing out the Cavs 129-109 to take a 3-1 series lead.

The No. 4-seeded Pacers can close it out Tuesday in Cleveland, where they’ve already won twice.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” coach Rick Carlisle said after earning his 33rd playoff win with Indiana, passing Larry Bird for the most in the franchise’s NBA history. “We’re going to keep approaching this like we have everything to prove. We know people don’t believe in us, so we’re just going to stay in the fight and keep fighting.”

The Pacers certainly showed some resolve two days after an embarrassing 22-point loss on their home court, a game in which Cleveland dominated the glass and held two-time All-Star Tyrese Haliburton to four points and five assists.

This time, the towel-waving home crowd helped spur Indiana, right from the start of a physical, sometimes chippy game.

The Pacers built a 44-point lead before settling for an 80-39 halftime margin that matched the league’s previous best since detailed play-by-play was kept, set by the Cavs in Game 2 of the 2017 Eastern Conference finals against Boston.

Indiana did much of its damage without Bennedict Mathurin, one of its best scorers, who was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul just 7 1/2 minutes into the game. And with Donovan Mitchell missing the second half because of an injured left ankle, the Cavs had no chance.

Darius Garland led the Cavs with 21 points in his second game back from an injured toe. Mitchell finished with 12. Coach Kenny Atkinson said Mitchell would have an MRI exam Monday.

“Complete domination by them,” Atkinson said briefly, before explaining at least the Cavs have two of the final three games on their home court. “They dominated us in every facet of the game.”

Indiana wasted no time taking control quickly with early runs of 11-2 and 13-0 to build a commanding 48-23 lead with 9:24 left in the first half. They didn’t stop — or back down — there, either, closing the half on a 19-2 run

Aaron Nesmith’s buzzer-beating midrange jumper put the Pacers in another exclusive club — the 10th team in playoff history and second this week to score 80 points in the first half of a playoff game. Oklahoma City scored 87 points in Game 2 against Denver.

Turner made all four of his 3-point attempts with Indianapolis 500 winners Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, WNBA Rookies of the Year Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, and former NFL star Reggie Wayne in the crowd.

“We felt the last game, they set the tone from a physical standpoint,” Haliburton said after finishing with 11 points, five rebounds and five assists. “Today, we came out and set the tone from the jump, really just rode that wave.”

Regular Season Series

IND wins series 3-1