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Nightly Pulse: NBA news & highlights from May 13

Stay in the know on today's NBA Playoff action with the latest news, scores and highlights from around the league.

NBA.com Staff

🏀Tuesday Playoff hoops🏀

  • Pacers 114, Cavaliers 105 (Final)
  • Nuggets 105, Thunder 112 (Final)

 

📝Final notes📝

Indiana is moving on. They turned the tide after falling behind by as many as 19 points in the first half. They grabbed the lead at the 7:04 mark of the third quarter thanks to a 17-2 run and a Pascal Siakam triple and never looked back. The Pacers were once again on point from beyond the arc, making 42.9% of their three-point attempts. The Pacers will make their second consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference Finals with the victory. The loss marks a disappointing end to Cleveland’s campaign. The Cavaliers won 64 regular-season games and seemed primed for a long Playoff run, but will ultimately fall short, losing in five games in the Conference Semi-Finals, as they did last year. 

The Thunder were trailing by eight after three quarters, but put the clamps on in the fourth, holding Denver to just 19 points in the final frame. After the Nuggets tied the game at 103 with 1:40 left, Oklahoma City went on an 8-0 run that sealed the game, putting them up 111-103 with just 22 seconds remaining. The win in the crucial Game 5 matchup gives OKC the 3-2 advantage in the series and a chance to punch their ticket to the Western Conference Finals on Thursday in Denver.

 

🌟🌟Top performers🌟🌟

  • Tyrese Haliburton: 31 points (10-15 FG), six rebounds, and eight assists. 
  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 31 points, six rebounds, seven assists, two steals, and two blocks. 
  • Nikola Jokić: 44 points (17-25 FG), 15 rebounds, five assists, and two steals.

Thunder win crucial Game 5🌩️

The Thunder were clutch down the stretch, outscoring Denver 34-19 in the final quarter on their way to a 112-105 win.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander came through in the second half, and in the clutch, scoring 20 of his 31 points in the last two quarters. Arguably, none bigger than this triple to put his squad up six with 47 seconds left in the game.

Jokić came up big for Denver, scoring 44 points on 17-25 shooting, adding 15 rebounds and five assists, but it wasn’t enough. The rest of the Nuggets shot a combined 23-for-72, good for 31.9% from the field.

The Thunder will have a chance to advance to the Western Conference Finals on Thursday in Game 6.

 

 

Dort darts🎯🎯🎯

Lu Dort has 12 points in this game, and nine of them have come in the last two minutes, as he’s made three triples to cut Denver’s lead from 90-81 to 92-90.

Just over six minutes are remaining in this pivotal Game 5 and it’s looking like it’s going to come down to the wire. The winner takes a 3-2 advantage in the series.

Catch the finish on TNT, truTV, or stream it on Max!

 

1️⃣Quarter left

Denver has an eight-point lead, 86-78 heading into the final frame.

Jokić is now up to 31 points, 12 boards, and five dimes, who along with Murray scored 83% of Denver’s points in the third quarter.

The Thunder have gotten 21 points from Gilgeous-Alexander, and 12 from Chet Holmgren, who added another highlight reel dunk,

The Thunder will need to hunker down and go on another run here in the fourth to avoid falling to a 3-2 deficit in the series.

 

Nuggets rolling🛼

Denver has outscored OKC 24-14 thus far in the third quarter and has an 80-68 lead with just under five minutes remaining in the third frame.

Jokić and Murray are on fire, scoring 27 and 24 points respectively while combining to shoot 20-for-33.

 

Denver up at the break

Each team has made multiple runs, with the Thunder finishing the half on a 9-0 spurt, but at the end of two, it’s the Nuggets up two, 56-54.

Jamal Murray has made multiple smooth plays thus far, and he gets two of his 11 points on this fancy finish,

Jokić has his touch from beyond the arc, making two of his three triple tries, and finishing the half with 19 points and nine boards.

The Thunder have gotten 11 apiece from Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams. They’ve also gotten nine from Chet Holmgren, including this strong one-handed slam,

 

I got this💪

If you can’t find someone else to pass it to, you may as well pass it to yourself.

Jokić picks up his dribble but finds himself at an awkward angle and shoots it off the backboard to himself and gets the putback.

Jokić is up to 11 points with seven boards, and Denver has a 40-38 lead at the midpoint of the second quarter.

 

Game of runs🏃🏻‍♂️‍➡️

Oklahoma City opened up the action with a 12-2 run, but Denver answered with their own 14-2 run, and have a 28-27 lead after a quarter of play.

Nikola Jokić has a team-high nine for the Nuggets, but it was a pair of triples from Christian Braun that put the Nuggets in front for the first time,

Jalen Williams’ nine points lead the Thunder.

 

Pacers advance➡️

Indiana overcame a 19-point deficit to knock out the Cavaliers, 114-105. They’ll now make their second consecutive trip to the Eastern Conference Finals, in either a rematch from last year with the Celtics, or a showdown with the Knicks, who lead their series 3-1.

The Pacers got multiple key plays down the stretch, whether it was the defense of Haliburton, leading to an and-1 opportunity,

Or the Nembhard bucket and a foul,

Then there was the Myles Turner triple, that really sealed the deal,

In all, Haliburton was massive in the victory, scoring 31 points on 10-for-15 shooting, including 6 of 10 from deep, to go with six boards and eight assists.

Siakam added 21 and eight boards, while Nembhard (18), Nesmith (13), and Turner (10), also scored in double digits.

The Cavaliers got 35 points from Mitchell in the loss, and 24 from Mobley, but ultimately the team shot 38.9% from the floor, including 25.7% from three-point land, compared to Indiana who made 42.9% of their threes, which was a significant different in the game.

 

Lead lengthens📏

The Pacers outscored the Cavs 33-20 in the third quarter, and now lead 85-76 going into the final frame.

The quarter featured a 19-2 Pacers run, and a stretch of seven minutes where Cleveland was unable to make a field goal.

Ty Jerome, who didn’t enter the game until late in the third quarter, is trying to get Cleveland going and has scored eight points in just minutes on the floor.

 

Pacers take the lead🎯🎯🎯

Another barrage of triples has connected, two from Siakam and one from Haliburton and the Pacers now lead, 65-64, nearing the midpoint of the third frame.

The Pacers are now shooting 11-for-25 from distance, while Cleveland is 2-for-15.

 

Lead vanishing😶‍🌫️

Cleveland at one point was up 19 on the Pacers, but entering halftime are now leading just 56-52.

Haliburton was central to Indiana’s surge, knocking down three straight triples,

The star guard now has a game-high 17 points on 5-for-6 shooting, all threes.

Mitchell has 16 points to lead the Cavs, but he’s shooting just 3-for-11 from the field, while Garland is 2-for-10.

Each will likely need to shoot at a better clip in the second half to keep Cleveland in front.

 

Defense➡️Offense

Indiana entered the second quarter searching for offense, and they got it going here thanks to a swat from Turner.

After the block, Haliburton brings it up the floor and spots Nesmith, who buries the triple.

The Pacers now trail by just seven points, 48-41 with just over four minutes remaining in the first half.

 

Cleveland rising📈

The Cavaliers have responded well from their Game 4 loss, taking a 31-19 lead into the second quarter.

Mitchell remains a force, finishing the quarter with 13 points, two boards, an assist, a block, and a steal.

He continues to attack the bucket, and here he shows off the Euro step with the finish,

He also created another and-one opportunity off a swipe, creating offense from defense.

 

Ankle looks good👍

Mitchell is getting it done, scoring 7 points thus far, and attacking the rim.

Here he gets the swat off Turner, runs the floor,  gets the finish, and the and-1 opportunity. He also forced Haliburton to the bench, as he picked up his second foul on Mitchell’s bucket attempt.

He’s also serving up dimes, sending a bounce pass to Allen for the slam dunk finish,

Cleveland is up 21-12 on the Pacers with three minutes left in the first.

 

Punching it in👊

We’re underway in Cleveland, and the Cavaliers’ first bucket comes via a Jarrett Allen slam.

The scoring is slow early, with each team shooting just 2-for-10 from the floor and the score knotted up at 6 a little less than five minutes in.

 

Mitchell is in🕷️

Donovan Mitchell was considered a game-time decision due to the ankle injury he suffered Sunday evening, but he’ll give it a go tonight.

Mitchell will join Darius Garland, Max Strus, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen in the Cavaliers’ starting five.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

The Pacers will put Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, and Myles Turner on the floor first.

 

📋Game notes📋

 

🎸Cleveland vs. 🏎️💨Indiana

Things couldn’t go much worse for Cleveland than they did in Game 4. Not only were buckets tough to come by, they couldn’t stop Indiana from making them. To make matters worse, Donovan Mitchell aggravated an ankle injury during second-half warmups and is considered questionable for tonight. 

If Cleveland loses, their historic 64-win campaign will abruptly end, losing in five games during the Conference Semi-Finals for a second straight season. If they can pull off the victory, they’ll head back to Indianapolis for a Game 6 on Thursday. Although winning a series after being down 3-1 is possible, the odds are against it. Of the 292 times in league Playoff history that a team has trailed 3-1 in a series, only 13 teams (4.5%) were able to come back and win it. 

⛏️Denver vs. 🌩️Oklahoma City

The Nuggets and Thunder will battle tonight in a pivotal Game 5. If Oklahoma City wins, Denver will be forced to win two straight to advance, something neither of these teams has done in this series. If Denver wins, they’ll have a chance to close out the series on their home floor in Game 6.

Aside from a convincing OKC win in Game 2, each of these games has gone down to the wire, including an OT showdown in Game 3. The key to victory tonight may be Jamal Murray, who has played 11 Game 5s in his career and owns marks of 26.1 ppg, 50.2 FG%, and 46.8 3P% in those outings. Denver is 10-1 in that span. For OKC, it’s going to be continuing to apply defensive pressure. The Nuggets are 0-6 on the season when being held under 100 points, a feat that the Thunder were able to pull off in Game 4.

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