CLEVELAND, Ohio — There’s one sequence in particular I can’t stop thinking about in Game 1 between the Cavs and the Pacers.

In the opening round of the Eastern Conference semifinal series, the Pacers set the tone early, leading by 11 at the end of the first 12 minutes.

The Cavs clawed their way back. The Pacers responded. In the end, Indy won 121-112 to take a 1-0 series lead and steal a key game in Cleveland.

But the sequence I can’t stop thinking about happened in the fourth quarter, with just under 3 minutes to play. It wasn’t the flashiest, but it was emblematic of the game as a whole.

From the left wing, Donovan Mitchell had an isolation look. A few hard dribbles inside, he had a finger roll attempt near the rim that was short.

Myles Turner came up with the rebound, advancing the ball to leading scorer Pascal Siakam, who was already halfway down the court beating the Cavs defense.

He laid it in for two (two of his 17, as six players scored in double figures for Indy), and just like that, the Pacers had the lead back up to eight, 114-106, with 2:51 to play.

That, in short, tells the story of this game.

Coming into this one, the Cavs looked like … well, a team that’s been off for about a week.

The Pacers had the Cleveland defense scrambling early with their ball movement, as they assisted on 11 of 14 first-quarter makes. Throughout the game, the Cavs fell for pump fakes, left shooters wide open, and got beat off the dribble — hardly the recipe for playoff success.

The Cavs, meanwhile, were struggling offensively too. They looked stagnant, slow, and Mitchell was trying to play hero ball to save it all in an admirable effort. But the problem was he forced too many shots early, and got into too many of those pesky iso situations.

Indy landed the first blow of this series early, but the Cavs clawed their way back in.

They got to within 4 in the second quarter, and trailed by six at half.

They took their first lead of the second half at the 3:16 mark in the third quarter, 85-84. Trading buckets, the Pacers led 92-90 heading into the fourth thanks to a buzzer 3 from Turner at the end of the third.

It set up to be a nailbiter fourth quarter, and that’s why a sequence like that fourth-quarter one between Mitchell and Siakam stood out so much.

Those kind of plays are the ones that can swing a game, even a series, best-case scenario.

Indiana showed it can play with both physicality and finesse in this one, outshooting the Cavs from deep making 19 of 36 3s, while the Cavs shot 9 of 38 (this season they made no fewer than 10 3s in any regular season game).

Indeed, Indy threw the first punch and landed it — hard. Now the Cavs must figure out a way to respond.