The Indiana Pacers are doing their part to turn the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs into an upset fest. The Pacers shockingly won the first two games of their series with the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers on the road, just as the New York Knicks did the same thing in winning their first two games against the defending NBA champion Boston Celtics at the TD Garden in Boston. Star Tyrese Haliburton refused to let the Pacers settle for a split in the first two games of the series by hitting the winning shot in Game 2.

While the Pacers won Game 1 in fairly dominant fashion, the Cavaliers came out with a full effort and charged to the lead from the start. They jumped all over the Pacers in the first quarter, building a 32-15 advantage, and they had a 14-point lead at the start of the 4th quarter.

Nevertheless, head coach Rick Carlisle and the Pacers never gave up even though they trailed by 7 points with 48 seconds to play, They scored the final eight points and Haliburton hit the game-winning three-point shot with 1.1 seconds left to give Indiana a 2-0 advantage.

Haliburton scored 19 points in the game, making 7 of 11 shots and both of his shots from beyond the arc. Since he played the role of hero, Haliburton said he had gotten multiple congratulatory messages.

The sharpshooter said he had gotten texts from “(Justin) Timberlake, Floyd (Mayweather) and Steph (Curry)” after his late-game heroics. “I've been able to develop some pretty cool relationships,” Haliburton said. “I got some pretty cool texts. But there's a cool video of my dog running around the house after I hit the shot. That's the coolest one.”

Haliburton and Pacers hope to keep it going at home

Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle looks on in the fourth quarter against the Milwaukee Bucks during game four of first round for the 2024 NBA Playoffs at Fiserv Forum.
Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
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The Pacers certainly did a lot of heavy lifting by winning the first two games of the series on the road. However, in order to win the series, they can't let up when they host Game 3 in Indianapolis Friday night.

The Cavaliers had a brilliant regular season and finished the year with a 64-18 record. They were quite effective throughout the season on the road, winning 30 of their 41 games away from home.

Haliburton is not going to make it easy for the Cavs. The 6-5 point guard had 22 points in the Game 1 triumph before his heroics in Game 2.

Fellow point guard Andrew Nembhard has also been huge for the Pacers with a game-high 23 points in the series opener and 13 more in Game 2. Small forward Aaron Nesmith and center Myles Turner both had 23 points for the Pacers in the Game 2 triumph.