Cleveland Cavaliers pull away late to overtake Indiana Pacers at home

Cleveland Cavaliers bounce back late

The Cleveland Cavaliers went on a late surge to pull away and complete a 115-105 victory at home over division rivals Indiana Pacers. Following two consecutive losses, the Cavs get back on track and improved to a 49-30 record to strengthen their hold on fourth in the East.

Donovan Mitchell continued his stellar run to finish with 40 points, six rebounds, and three steals to lead the Cavaliers to a much-needed win in front of another sold-out Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse crowd.

With 17 huge third-quarter points, Mitchell once again broke franchise records, reaching the 40-point mark and becoming the first Cavs player to do so in three straight games, while also topping that feat for a record 12th occasion thus far this season.

Both teams went tit-for-tat, and it wasn’t until about midway through the final quarter that the home team raced ahead to leave their opponents in the dust. Canadian rookie Bennedict Mathurin top-scored for Indiana with 19 points to lead six other Pacers players to tally double-digits in the loss.

The Cavs need to hold the fort in the final stretch

Even after successfully clinching their first playoff spot in five years, Cleveland isn’t out of the woods yet in terms of securing home-court advantage in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, with the New York Knicks technically still in contention to overtake them being just three games back in the standings.

With three games to play, Cleveland would only have to win one of their remaining assignments to do so. There is still also a slim chance to overtake the Philadelphia 76ers for third place, but that will take winning all three games while praying on the Sixers losing theirs.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will need to lock down home-court advantage for a chance at a deeper postseason run, especially with nightmares of last year’s late collapse that led the team to crash out after losing both play-in tournament games. They are set to once again hit the road and travel to play the Orlando Magic on April 4th.