Surging Pacers set for back-to-back vs. sizzling Cavs

The Indiana Pacers have enjoyed quite the start to the calendar year, winning all five of their games in 2025 by double-digit margins.

The Pacers have a tall task on their hands as they vie for a season-high winning streak on Sunday when they visit the white-hot Cleveland Cavaliers in the opener of a home-and-home series.

Winners of 12 in a row and off to a franchise-best start to the season (33-4), the Cavaliers will visit Indianapolis on Tuesday night.

The Pacers, who previously won five straight games on Dec. 13-23, extended their current streak with a 108-96 victory over the short-handed Golden State Warriors on Friday.

Tyrese Haliburton collected 25 points and 10 assists, marking the fourth time in his last five games that he has surpassed 20 points, as the Pacers completed a two-game season sweep of the Warriors. It was also Haliburton's third double-double during the winning streak.

"Just getting to the paint, being aggressive. I've been getting downhill, being aggressive," Haliburton said of his torrid stretch. "... But the numbers don't lie. Y'all can look it up. The more I'm in the paint, the more we win games. It's really been about me being aggressive to get two feet in the paint ... it opens up everything for me, it opens up everything for everybody else."

Pascal Siakam recorded 25 points and nine rebounds and Bennedict Mathurin added 21 and 10 to post his seventh double-double of the season.

"Finding him in the right spots. He can score with the best of them, so we know he can do that," Haliburton said of Mathurin. "He's doing a great job defending. He had 10 rebounds (Friday), which is huge. He's doing a great job, just doing what's needed right now and filling that role very nicely."

The surging Cavaliers have several players filling the stat sheet as well, notably Darius Garland, Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

Garland erupted for a season-high 40 points in Cleveland's 132-126 victory over the visiting Toronto Raptors on Thursday night. He made 14 of 22 shots from the floor -- 4 of 7 from 3-point range -- to go along with nine assists.

"He carried us," Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said of Garland. "This is the first game all year I felt like one guy carried us. We weren't good, but he single-handedly took over this game. I'm going to just campaign -- if he's not an All-Star, I don't know what an All-Star looks like. Darius saved us tonight."

Garland admitted that he is motivated to show his worth, especially with fellow guard and leading scorer Donovan Mitchell (22.9 points per game) sitting out the contest to rest.

"I'm trying to get back to that All-Star level," said Garland, an All-Star in 2021-22. "Just trying to show the league that I'm one of the best point guards in this league."

Allen collected 18 points and 15 rebounds on Thursday and Mobley had 21 and 11, respectively, to go along with six assists.

The teams split their four-game season series in 2023-24.

--Field Level Media