Pacers rally past Cavs to take series lead

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 30 points, leading the Indiana Pacers back from a 17-point halftime deficit for a 92-90 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night in Indianapolis and a 2-1 lead in their first-round series.

Cleveland was 39-0 during the regular season when leading after three quarters and kept that perfect mark intact with a Game 2 win.

The incredible second-half charge came exactly one year after Indiana blew a 26-point halftime lead in a historic playoff collapse against the Cavs.

This time, the Pacers delivered a devastating blow to the three-time defending Eastern Conference champs — on a night LeBron Jones joined Michael Jordan as the only players in playoff history to record 100 double-doubles. James finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Cleveland from losing its first game this season after leading following the third quarter.

The biggest reason for the collapse: Bogdanovic.

After charging back within striking distance, he completed a four-point play to finally give the Pacers an 81-77 lead with 6:10 left. Bogdanovic followed that with another to make it as seven-point game.

Then James answered with the next seven to tie it.

Bogdanovic came right back with a layup and another three before Thaddeus Young scored to give the Pacers a 9184 cushion with 53 seconds left.

James knocked down a three, and the Cavs got another three from Kevin Love with 7 seconds left to make it 91-90.

Darren Collison made 1 of 2 free throws with 5 seconds left, giving Cleveland one more chance. But J.R. Smith’s long desperation heave came up short.

Wizards 122, Raptors 103: Bradley Beal heeded his coach’s plea to “do his job” by scoring 21 of his 28 points in the first half, and his all-star backcourt running mate John Wall delivered 28 points and 14 assists as Washington cut its series deficit to 2-1.

After letting the Raptors grab the first 2-0 series lead in franchise history, the Wizards came home and checked off every box coach Scott Brooks presented. They got Beal more involved after he made only three shots in Game 2; they led after the first quarter, 30-29; they played with enough defensive focus to get produce 19 turnovers by Toronto, leading to 28 points for Washington.

Add it all up, and it was a rare recent victory for Washington, which had lost seven of eight games dating to the regular season.

DeMar DeRozan’s 23 points led Toronto.

Winslow fined: Miami’s Justise Winslow has been fined $15,000 by the league for attempting to damage Philadelphia center Joel Embiid’s facemask during Game 3 of their playoff series.

Embiid was wearing the mask after returning from a 10-game absence caused by a broken orbital bone around his left eye.