CLEVELAND
Hayden Hurst Jersey , Ohio — The Indiana Pacers are in no better position to pull off a historic upset in this first-round playoff series with the Cleveland Cavaliers than when they awoke Sunday morning.
The Pacers had a chance to put the Cavs, at the time reeling with playoff inexperience and the crushing weight of expectations with LeBron James, squarely behind the eight ball in this series by winning Game 4.
But Indiana fell behind by a huge deficit in the first half for the second consecutive game, erased it in the third and early fourth quarters again, but couldn’t sustain the momentum. Kyle Korver and James made enough plays down the stretch for the Cavs to win, 104-100, tying this series at 2-2 with Game 5 on Wednesday in Cleveland.
James has never lost a first-round series in 12 previous playoffs. Now, he has two of the next three games at home to try and keep his streak alive.
“I think just tying the series up and coming back home is something we feel good about,” said Kevin Love, who like every other Cav not named James has mostly struggled in this series. “We feel like it’s a best-of-three type series and at the end of the day, if it comes to it, we have two games at home. We like our advantage and we’re going to use that to our advantage (Wednesday) night.”
The Pacers trailed by 17 at halftime of Game 3 but steamrolled the Cavs in the second half and pulled out a 92-90 win behind 30 points from Bojan Bogdanovic, a playoff career high. They were down 10 through two quarters in Game 4 but fought back and were ahead 93-91 with 3:49 remaining before Korver connected on two deep 3s.
Indiana won Game 1 behind a playoff career-high 32 points from Victor Oladipo
Cheap Kerryon Johnson Jersey , who has struggled since (19-of-53 shooting in the last three games). Domantas Sabonis played a big role in the Pacers’ comeback Sunday, scoring a playoff career-best 19 off the bench.
The Pacers are getting the best night of someone’s playoff career almost each game of this series, and it’s been good enough for two wins. Then again, the Cavs’ two wins were by a combined seven points, and outside of James (32.5 ppg this series) almost no one is scoring.
Love is the next closest at 12.0 points in this series and JR Smith is third with 10.0 points.
“We’re not losing confidence,” point guard Darren Collison said, according to the Indianapolis Star. “This team is the defending Eastern Conference champions. Whatever you want to say about them, this is a very good team. They’ve been through a lot over the last few years. We’re fine. There’s no need to overreact or panic. We’re going to go into their building and we’re going to give the same effort.”
The Cavaliers say point guard George Hill (back spasms) is questionable to play in Game 5. He missed Game 4 with the same injury — four injections before the game were not enough to ease the pain to the point where he could play.
Jose Calderon started for Hill on Sunday and scored five points in 19 minutes. The Cavs are 24-9 this year (regular season and playoffs) when Calderon starts.
Hill is the only player on either team listed on the injury report. But Love suffered an injury to his left thumb in Game 1 and it’s affected him. He’s shooting 17-of-47 in the series with 11 turnovers. Catching and gripping the ball have been obvious problems.
“I’ve been able to get up a lot of shots,” Love said. “I think initially it was painful and in the few days that followed, but now it’s kind of subsided and I’m just getting my feel back in my left thumb.”
A Russian mixed martial arts fighter who has connections with President Donald Trump, the president’s personal attorney Michael Cohen and Russian President Vladimir Putin was questioned this week by the FBI, his manager confirmed Saturday.
Fedor Emelianenko was questioned by agents who met him in his hotel room on Tuesday, manager Jerry Millen said before Emelianenko’s Bellator MMA heavyweight fight against Frank Mir. Millen declined to detail his client’s conversations with the agents.
”The FBI came to the hotel looking to talk to Fedor and they were very nice
Eli Manning Jersey , came in to speak with Fedor for a few minutes, spoke to me, very cool guys, and that’s all I can really say about it. Again, the FBI did come to the hotel, they found us, knocked on the door,” Millen said.
”Hundred percent, kind of surprised,” Millen added. ”They were very nice, very professional.”
The agents were in attendance at Saturday’s fight, Millen said.
SOCCER
MADRID (AP) – Barcelona is celebrating yet another Spanish league title to cap a nearly perfect season.
Unbeaten Barcelona added to its domestic dominance by winning La Liga for the third time in the last four seasons on Sunday, remaining unbeaten after 34 rounds. Lionel Messi scored a hat trick and Philippe Coutinho added a goal to give Barcelona a 4-2 win at Deportivo La Coruna and an insurmountable 11-point lead over Atletico Madrid.
”We know how difficult it is to win this league
Tarik Cohen Jersey ,” Messi said. ”We were better than our rivals. There is a lot of merit to winning this title without any losses.”
Barcelona has won 26 league games and drawn eight, with four matches left.
It was Barcelona’s seventh league title in 10 seasons and 25th overall. Real Madrid, last year’s champion, leads with 33 La Liga trophies.
SURFING
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) – Rodrigo Koxa has been credited with a world record for riding the biggest wave ever surfed.
The World Surf League confirmed the record at its Big Wave Awards in Santa Monica on Saturday, saying its judging panel determined that a wave Koxa surfed at Naraze, Portugal, on Nov. 8 was 80 feet (24.38 meters).
The Brazilian surfer’s mark overtook the record of 78 feet (23.77 meters) which Garrett McNamara set in 2011.
”The award goes to the surfer who, by any means available, catches the biggest wave of the year,” The WSL said in a statement. ”Not only did Koxa win this year’s honor, but he now holds the Guinness World Record for the biggest wave surfed.
Koxa described the award as ”a dream come true.”
PARALYMPICS
Paralympic Games organizers hope U.S. President Donald Trump won’t find it tough to watch their events in future.
The International Paralympic Committee pointed to the growing reach of its competitions in response to comments made on Friday by Trump when American athletes from the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Pyeongchang were welcomed to the White House.
”What happened with the Paralympics was so incredible and so inspiring to me, and I watched
Authentic Joe Mixon Jersey ,” Trump said, surrounded by members of Team USA. ”It’s a little tough to watch too much, but I watched as much as I could.”
The Paralympics in March were broadcast in the U.S. on NBC, NBCSN, and streamed on the NBC website.
”Record numbers of people around the world are not finding the Paralympics tough to watch,” IPC communications director Craig Spence told The Associated Press on Saturday. ”Billions of viewers now take in the Paralympics in hundreds of countries around the world.
PRO BASKETBALL
PHOENIX (AP) – A person with knowledge of the situation said interim coach Jay Triano is not among ”handful” of remaining candidates for the Phoenix Suns coaching job.
The person, who asked to remain anonymous because the search is ongoing, said the Suns are in the midst of second interviews ”with a handful of candidates still in the mix.”
Triano served as interim coach for all but the first three games of last season after Earl Watson was abruptly fired. Triano guided an exceedingly young and injury-plagued team to a 21-61 record, worst in the NBA and second-worst in franchise history.
Phoenix has the most ping pong balls and therefore the best chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick in next months’ draft lottery.
The Suns conducted initial interviews with a wide range of candidates, including Triano.
.