Indiana guard Bennedict Mathurin was ejected in the first quarter of the Pacers’ 129-109 Game 4 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night after he sparked an altercation with De’Andre Hunter.
Late in the first quarter, with the Pacers up 22-10 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Mathurin hit Hunter in the chest, causing Hunter to double over briefly in the lane.
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Mathurin immediately walked backward toward the 3-point line, and Hunter followed. While Mathurin appeared to taunt Hunter a bit with his arms outstretched, Hunter shoved Mathurin hard in the chest and knocked him to the court. That sparked a big altercation and a long review from the officials after things settled.
Eventually, Mathurin was hit with a Flagrant 2 foul and was ejected. Hunter, though his shove was far apparent than Mathurin’s initial action, was hit with only a technical foul for his retaliatory action. Myles Turner was also assessed a technical foul.
Despite losing Mathurin, the Pacers didn’t slow down at all. They rolled to a 41-point lead at halftime, which matched the NBA postseason record for the largest lead at the break, and they set a playoff record with 25 assists in the first half. The Cavaliers had just eight field goals in the first half.
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Cleveland ended up losing star Donovan Mitchell to an ankle injury just before halftime. He appeared to tweak his ankle while warming up for the third quarter and did not return. While Cleveland was much better offensively in the second half, it was far too late to mount a comeback.
The Pacers will have a chance to close out the series Tuesday night in Cleveland. A win there will send them to their second straight Eastern Conference finals and knock the top seed in the East out early.
