Thunder even the series against the Nuggets and the Pacers destroy the Cavs to stay one step away from the Conference Finals

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 92-87 on Sunday and tied their NBA Western Conference semifinal series 2-2 while the Indiana Pacers dominated the Cleveland Cavaliers by 20 points and took a 3-1 lead in the East after an anthological 80-point first half.

The Cavaliers, the best team in the Eastern Conference in the regular season, are one loss away from suffering a painful elimination.

On the other hand, the Thunder, the dominators of the West, fought to the end in Denver to avoid the dreaded 3-1 deficit.

This deficit has only been overcome 13 of 293 times in playoff history.

Thunder leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 25 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists in a duel in which both offenses were obfuscated.

Serbia's Nikola Jokic finished with 27 points and 13 rebounds for the Nuggets, who had one of the worst starts of the playoffs.

Both teams matched the worst offensive output in a first quarter of the playoffs, with 25 combined points, and concluded the game with a mediocre 33.5 percent shooting percentage from the field.

"Every game is do-or-die in a series against a good team," Gilgeous-Alexander stressed. "We didn't want a third (loss). As long as we continue to improve throughout the series, we should be in a good place."

The Thunder and the Nuggets met again less than 48 hours after the fast-paced third round, which Denver scored in its favor in overtime.

In a near-noon time slot on Sunday, the home crowd's euphoria quickly cooled in the face of their team's uncharacteristic five-point blackout, which scored five points in the first seven minutes.

The Thunder, however, failed to get unstuck during the home collapse. They finished the first quarter with a dreadful 2-22 shooting stat line and just eight points to Oklahoma City's 17.

"Tired legs"

Jokic himself went into the first break with his locker blank. Stalked by Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, two towers over 6'9 feet tall, Jokic is going through a decline in his effectiveness by averaging 33% in shooting in the last three games.

The "Joker" began to wake up in the second quarter with his team down 23-8, and the call was joined by his squires Jamal Murray (17 points) and Aaron Gordon (15).

The Nuggets took their first lead midway through the third quarter, but the Thunder, the youngest team in the league, withstood the pressure from the 21,000 fans thanks to the step-up of their subs Cason Wallace (11 points), Aaron Wiggins (11) and Alex Caruso (10).

Oklahoma City, which finished with its lowest scoring output of the season, will host Game 5 on Tuesday.

"I think both teams had tired legs," Denver coach David Adelman said. "You have to give them credit. In a really nasty game, those guys made enough plays to win the game."

Cavs on the brink

Sunday's other game was a military ride by the Indiana Pacers, who humiliated the Cleveland Cavaliers in a game that ended 109-29 and went on to take a 44-point lead.

Indiana, the most in-form team at the moment, will have a first chance Tuesday to return to the East Finals, where last year, the Boston Celtics swept them 4-0 by the Boston Celtics.

Before the jubilation of their crowd, the Pacers sent the Cavs to the canvas with a fabulous choral performance in which three players were above twenty points: centers Pascal Siakam (21), Myles Turner (20) and reserve Obi Toppin (20).

Siakam and Turner picked apart Cleveland's inside duo of Evan Mobley (10 points) and Jarrett Allen (2), both in the paint and from the outside line, combining six three-pointers without a miss.

Cleveland star Donovan Mitchell was held to 12 points and, due to a left ankle problem, did not take the court after halftime, when the Pacers were already up by 41 points (80-39).

Indiana didn't even miss young Canadian forward Bennedict Mathurin, the best scorer on its bench, who was ejected midway through the first quarter for punching defender DeAndre Hunter in the chest.

In response, Hunter gave Mathurin a hard shove that sent him to the floor. For this, he received a technical foul that kept him on the court.

The Cavaliers now have no margin for error to avoid ending their best season since LeBron James' departure in 2018.