The Cleveland Cavaliers play the Indiana Pacers on Sunday to kick off the final week of the regular season. The Cavaliers have already secured a spot in the playoffs.
Cleveland (48-30) made it to the playoffs for the first time since 1998 without LeBron James. The Cavaliers seem to be locked in at No. 4 seed, Cleveland is three and a half games behind third-place Philadelphia with just four regular-season games remaining.
Despite the Knicks’ 130-116 victory in Cleveland on Friday, the Cavaliers held a three-game advantage over fifth-place New York heading into Saturday.
After winning the previous four games, the Cavaliers fell for the second time in a row.
Mitchell’s 11th game with at least 40 points came against the Knicks, when he scored 42.
One such performance came on Dec. 16 against Indiana, when Mitchell scored 41 points by making eight 3-pointers, matching his season high. The Cavaliers’ victory against Indiana on February 5 by a score of 122-103 was their second of the season, their first victory coming by a score of 118-112.
Cleveland can win the season series on Sunday against the Pacers, who have been without guard Tyrese Haliburton and center Myles Turner for the last four games.
Indiana (34-44) ended a four-game losing streak on Friday by defeating Oklahoma City 121-117, despite playing without Haliburton, who averages 20.7 points per game, and Turner, who averages 18.
The Pacers’ T.J. McConnell nearly had a triple-double off the bench, putting up a team-high 21 points, eight assists, and nine rebounds. As one of seven Pacers to score in double figures, Andrew Nembhard scored an additional 18 points.
In the backcourt, Nembhard and fellow rookie Bennedict Mathurin have started together for a new Indiana rotation.
A difficult last half to the mission, starting with Haliburton’s 10-game nonappearance because of knee and elbow wounds in January, thumped a Pacers group that seemed to be in season finisher conflict outside the play-in competition race.
Indiana was 10th in the Eastern Conference, 3 1/2 games behind Chicago going into Saturday’s game.
For Cleveland, Sunday’s matchup is the first of four games against teams that have already been eliminated or are close to being eliminated from playoff contention.
