Pacers 92, Cavaliers 90

The Indiana Pacers kept insisting this team was different.

Anyone who doubted them coming into the playoffs understands now.

On Friday, the one-year anniversary of a historic playoff collapse against Cleveland, Indiana flipped the script by rallying from a 17-point halftime deficit and held on for a victory over the Cavaliers to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. They can take command of the series by winning Sunday on their home court.

"Last year's team, I don't know if we would have gone down 17, I don't know if we would have overcome it," forward Thaddeus Young said. "But this team, we've been resilient all year. We've overcome adversity."

And on Friday they did it against a Cavaliers team that was 39-0 in the regular season when leading after three quarters.

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 19 of his playoff career-high 30 points in the second half, finishing 7 of 9 on 3-pointers. Victor Oladipo added 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists.

Bogdanovic also spent most of the game defending LeBron James, who finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and six turnovers. He joined Michael Jordan as the only players in league history with 100 double-doubles in the postseason. Jordan had 109.

James almost single-handedly rallied his team twice from seven-point deficits in the final 3½ minutes.

The three-time defending Eastern Conference champs were outscored 52-33 over the final 24 minutes.

"We were more aggressive in the first half. We had tempo, they didn't," James said. "Then they were more aggressive in the second half, they had tempo, and we didn't."

Young is one of the few players still around from the record-breaking, 26-point collapse last year, which is one reason coach Nate McMillan has continually opted not to discuss it.

After the Pacers cut the 57-40 halftime deficit to 69-63 at the end of three, the Pacers continued to apply pressure and eventually Bogdanovic finally broke through with a four-point play that gave Indiana an 81-77 lead with 6:10 left. It was Indiana's first lead since midway through the first quarter.

He was far from finished.

Bogdanovic knocked down another 3 to make it a seven-point game.

Then, after James countered with seven straight to tie the score, Bogdanovic scored on a layup and hit his final 3 before Young's layup made it 91-84 with 53 seconds to go.

James and Kevin Love made back-to-back 3s to make it 91-90, and Cleveland got one more chance after Darren Collison missed the second free throw with 5 seconds left.

But J.R. Smith's 38-foot heave came up short.

"It's great to be on the other end," Myles Turner said. "You never want to get down that far and have to try and come back. To be down in that position is not ideal. The resiliency of this team, it's unbelievable."

Love finished with 19 points and six rebounds despite playing with an injured left thumb.

Indiana's fans booed the refs loudly throughout the first half. Then they really got upset after watching Oladipo crash hard to the floor on the final play of the half.

No foul was called and Oladipo slapped the floor before getting up and complaining.

If that wasn't enough to upset the crowd, Larry Nance Jr. walked over and started yelling at Oladipo. That's when Young stepped in and tried to peacemaker.

Nobody was called for a technical foul.

Whether the verbal jabs provided any fuel at halftime, the Cavs certainly weren't the same in the second half, when they were 13 of 28 from the field, 5 of 22 on 3s and had 10 turnovers.

James scored 15 points over the final two quarters, while his teammates accounted for 18. Following the game, James was asked about getting more support from his teammates.

"What are you guys looking for? You think I'm going to throw my teammates under the bus?" James said before the reporter explained that's not what he meant. "I'm not about that. Guys have got to play better — including myself. I had six turnovers tonight. I was horrible in the third quarter. I couldn't make a shot. If I make some better plays in the third quarter (it's a different game)."

Wizards 122, Raptors 103

All of about 2½ minutes into the game, Washington forward Markieff Morris and Toronto's OG Anunoby needed to be separated after a near-fight that drew in other players.

Early in the third quarter Friday night, Raptors guard Kyle Lowry was called for a flagrant foul when he swiped a hand across Bradley Beal's forehead as the Wizards guard went in for a breakaway layup. Later in that period, things really came close to spiraling out of control, but John Wall's bodyguard interceded when Washington's All-Star jawed with Toronto's Serge Ibaka.

As that scene unfolded on the court, spectators directed "U-S-A! U-S-A!" chants at the opponents from Canada, and Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." blared over the arena's speakers. Amid all the ruckus, Beal and Wall kept their heads and helped the Wizards pull further and further away for a victory.

What was once a dull, lopsided series is suddenly quite interesting.

Beal heeded his coach's plea to "do his job" by scoring 21 of his 28 points in the first half, Wall delivered 28 points and 14 assists, and the eighth-seeded Wizards cut their Eastern Conference first-round playoff deficit to 2-1.

"We're not going out to try to box every game," Beal said, before describing Morris as "a bully with a smile."

Added Beal: "We came out tonight with an edge about ourselves."

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 actually led after the first quarter, 30-29; they produced 19 turnovers that led to 28 points.

"They came out and punched us," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. "And we allowed them to."

He meant that figuratively, of course, but the choice of words sure seemed apt.

The Raptors did appear to take the worse of the physical nature of the game.

DeMar DeRozan, who led Toronto with 23 points, wore a Band-Aid under his right eye afterward. Reserve Pascal Siakam held a bag of ice over a cut on his lip that required three stitches.

"Ain't nobody fighting out here," said Lowry, who had 19 points and eight assists. "I mean, it got physical, but ain't nobody fighting. It's a heated moment, but that's the game of basketball."

Each team boasts a pair of elite, All-Star guards. This time, Washington's pair came out on top.

The start initially had the look of "Here we go again," as Toronto moved ahead 27-18. The Raptors, after all, outscored Washington by an average of 11 points in the first period over Games 1 and 2. But this time, Washington responded with a 12-point run capped by Beal's 3 with under a minute left.

Beal scored 12 in the quarter a day after he, Wall and Brooks met to discuss ways to get Beal more involved in the offense. Entering Friday, Beal was averaging only 14 points in the playoffs, well below his 22.6 average during the regular season.

"We need both our guys to step up," Brooks said about Beal and Wall. "It was good tonight."

After considering dropping center Marcin Gortat from the starting lineup in favor of forward Mike Scott, Brooks left things as-is. Sure worked out: Gortat responded with his best showing of these playoffs, contributing 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Asked to explain why Gortat fared so well, Brooks joked: "He got an age-appropriate haircut," a reference to the center's decision to shave his mohawk.