The Cleveland Cavaliers stand on the brink of elimination from the NBA playoffs with coach Kenny Atkinson admitting his team were “completely dominated” by the Indiana Pacers in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semi-finals.
The Pacers won 129-109 in a game in which they never trailed and led by 80-39 at the half.
Indiana lead the top-seeded Cavs 3-1 with the series heading back to Cleveland for Game 5 tomorrow night.
“Complete domination by them,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. “That’s kind of the story. In every facet.
“They raised their game to another level, and we didn’t match it. We talked about it. We knew it was coming. You try to prepare for these things. You try to prepare your guys mentally, but for whatever reason they were at another level. Their force was greater in every sense.”
the best international calls from our 129-109 Game 4 victory over the Cavaliers 📺 pic.twitter.com/a0CDFYAI8l
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) May 12, 2025
The Cavs could be without Donovan Mitchell who will have an MRI on an ankle injury today.
Carlisle not getting carried away
It all appears to be falling into place for the Pacers but coach Rick Carlisle knows there is still a long way to go and is expecting a response from Cleveland on their home court.
He said:: “We haven’t done anything yet.
“We’re going to keep approaching this like we have everything to prove. We know people don’t believe in us … the things about the scores and all that, it’s meaningless. This game is now history. So, we got to stay in the present moment as much as we can try to maintain an edge.
“There’s going to be a big haymaker coming. We respect the heck out of their fans and what they got going there. A lot of work to do.”
