Pacers Will Have Major Advantage Against Cavaliers in Series

The Indiana Pacers have proven that they are one of the top teams in the NBA with a comeback 119-118 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, winning the series 4-1.

The game saw the Pacers doing what they do best: overcoming adversity to grab a win from the jaws of defeat. And this time, they even made history when they did it.

Now that this series is over, the Pacers move forward to take on potentially their most difficult opponent yet: the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavs are definitively the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference with a 64-18 record. Meanwhile, the Pacers are back in fourth place with a 50-32 record.

While this may seem like a disaster in the making, Indiana actually has a surprising advantage over Cleveland.

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StatMuse recently shared a surprising statistic about the Pacers and Cavaliers, noting that Indiana has beaten Cleveland three times in the regular season, more than any other team.

The Cavaliers and Pacers faced each other four times, and Cleveland was always leading at halftime. However, Indiana was able to stage a comeback in three of those four games, with only one of them going into overtime.

Additionally, each win for Indiana had a different player carrying the offensive weight. Andrew Nembhard, Pascal Siakam, Bennedict Mathurin, Aaron Nesmith, and Quenton Jackson all had games where they recorded 19+ points.

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The only difference in the losing game was that star point guard Tyrese Haliburton was out with an injury. In fact, his overall presence was missed in two of the games, while a third was marred by injury.

In the one game he was full strength, Haliburton proved why he was the team’s leader, recording 23 points, 10 assists, eight total rebounds, and three blocks.

In the series against Milwaukee, Haliburton has proven that he is back to his usual self, averaging 17.6 points, 11.6 assists, 6.4 total rebounds, 0.8 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game.

Needless to say, this series is going to be much more competitive than it appears to be on first glance.

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For more news and notes about the Indiana Pacers, head on over to Indiana Pacers on SI.