Two wins away from reaching the Eastern Conference finals, the Indiana Pacers are back on home court for Game Three of their second-round matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday seeking a 3-0 lead.
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, will head to Indianapolis with a mountain to climb in their pursuit of NBA glory, and another defeat here would leave them on the brink of elimination.
Match preview
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After stunning the Cavaliers in Saturday's opening fixture of the sides' playoff duel, the Pacers headed into Wednesday's Game Two with the opportunity to seize further control of proceedings and managed to do just that with a thrilling 120-119 triumph.
Having trailed by 17 at the end of the first quarter, Rick Carlisle's men started to chip away at their opponents and closed the deficit to seven heading into the final 58 seconds, during which they scored eight unreplied points to silence Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Tyrese Haliburton was responsible for four of those points, including the game-winning three, to continue his impressive highlight reel since he was voted the most overrated player in the league via an anonymous poll of current players.
Similar to their stunning fightback against the Bucks in Game Five of Round One, the Pacers have come back from a seven-point deficit in the final 48 seconds of a playoff game for the second time in just over a week.
For context, that had only been done once in 385 post-season attempts over the last 20 years, highlighting how much of a fighting spirit the Pacers have developed to go along with their high-octane basketball style.
Heading back to their home court, where they are 3-0 in the playoffs so far, Saturday's hosts have a glorious opportunity to move within touching distance of a second consecutive conference finals appearance.
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In keeping their conference-best 64-18 record during the regular season, the Cavaliers made light of the Miami Heat by completing one of only two sweeps during the first round of the playoffs and headed into their second-round involvement as huge favourites to make it through.
Despite leading by as many as 20 points and for 42 of the 48 minutes of Wednesday's clash, the Cavaliers were just unable to get themselves over the line en route to one of the most agonising playoff defeats in franchise history.
Two games down the line and Kenny Atkinson's men have left themselves with an arduous task if they are to make it through to the conference finals for the first time in seven years, when LeBron James led them to the East title.
With all-star backcourt partner Darius Garland not available, Donovan Mitchell went off for 48 points on 15-30 shooting, albeit all to no avail and much to the frustration of the shooting guard, who has now ended up on the losing side in three of his four 45-point playoff performances.
Given the manner of their defeat last time out, the Cavaliers must now rally the troops for Saturday's Game Three and will draw confidence for the fact that they have not lost three consecutive games since March.
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Team News
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Isaiah Jackson is the Pacers' only guaranteed absentee for this one with the 2021 first-round draft pick sidelined for the remainder of the current campaign.
For the fourth straight game, the home side had all five starters reach double digits for points and they are 4-0 in that time since losing Game Three of round one against the Bucks.
Cavs trio Darius Garland (toe), Evan Mobley (ankle) and De'Andre Hunter (thumb) were all absent in Game Two last time out and remain huge doubts for this one.
Twenty-eight-year-old Donovan Mitchell is averaging 40.5 points over the opening two matches of the series, making him one to keep an eye on here.
Indiana Pacers possible starting five:
Haliburton, Nembhard; Nesmith, Siakam; Turner
Cleveland Cavaliers possible starting five:
Mitchell, Jerome; Strus, Wade; Allen
We say: Pacers to win by 7+ points
The Pacers will head into this one with the wind firmly in their sails and coupled with the injury concerns the Cavs currently have to deal with, we are backing the home side to emerge triumphant in the end.
Adepoju Marvellous
