CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cavs are headed back to the playoffs.

Cleveland officially clinched a playoff berth with a 129-120 win over the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers on Friday night. It’s the Cavs’ second straight win — the first time with back-to-back victories since late February.

Now the Cavs, 48-33 and fourth place in the Eastern Conference, will wait until Sunday to see where they finish in the standings and who their opponent is. Depending on how the remainder of the season unfolds, it could be this same Indiana squad.

Prior to tipoff, Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said his team understood the stakes and the magnitude of Friday night. Sure seemed like it.

Cleveland took control early, racing out to a double-digit lead around the three-minute mark of the first quarter. It led for more than 45 minutes overall.

“I think it’s a great sign for us to find the moment and then rise to the occasion,” Bickerstaff said. “I think that’s one of the things where we’ve been looking to grow. The purpose they played with. The effort they played with. The execution. The attention to detail. They really came out and played a spirited game. It wasn’t just the pretty stuff. It wasn’t the easy stuff. They came out and did the difficult stuff time and time again. You could go down the list and name play after play where guys stepped up and made huge plays, made gritty plays, and did the thing that it’s going to take to win when things get toughest.”

Despite being in front almost all night, the Pacers made it competitive throughout. They rallied from multiple double-digit deficits. Even pulled within three points late in the third quarter. When the Cavs opened the fourth on a 10-6 spurt, the sellout crowd started buzzing. But Indiana kept pushing and All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton’s clutch top-of-the-key 3-pointer at the 6:26 mark of the fourth cut the Cleveland lead to two, forcing a timeout and sending a momentary hush through the arena.

It didn’t stay quiet for long.

Coming out of the stoppage, Cavs center Jarrett Allen soared to the rim for a timely and-1, giving the Cavs a five-point edge and a bit of breathing room.

The potential playoff preview stayed within two possessions the rest of the way. And with the Cavs looking exhausted and clinging to a two-point lead at the 1:12 mark, Donovan Mitchell deferred to backcourt mate Darius Garland who dribbled into a clutch step-back 3 that gave Cleveland a five-point advantage and sent the arena into frenzy.

“Felt like a playoff game, and it felt like a big game to us as well,” Garland said. “The crowd really helped out a lot. They were really into it. After the 3, they were super loud, and I couldn’t really hear. I didn’t even hear the whistle after it went in, so we need that for the rest of the playoffs, the whole postseason.”

After a pair of Andrew Nembhard free throws made it a three-point game, the Cavs responded again.

With fans on their feet, Garland found sharpshooter Max Strus, who was fouled on a triple attempt. He made two of the three freebies.

Cleveland put an exclamation point on the win with a flying and-1 from Isaac Okoro in transition.

“This is the closest that we’re gonna get to a playoff game before the playoffs start, and I think we felt that as an organization and we wanted to come out and treat the game like that,” Allen explained. “I’m a big teammate guy. I wanted to get this for us. This is a game that decided our seeding going forward and sounded like the guys wanted a good seed, so I just wanted to go out and just play my heart out for them.”

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Allen, one of the most-criticized players after a lousy postseason showing last April, did just that. He had 29 points on 13 of 14 shooting to go with 13 rebounds, his 42 double-double this season.

Mitchell led the way with a game-high 33 points, including 13 in a tone-setting first quarter. Garland and Caris LeVert had 16 apiece.

“It’s a playoff game. That’s the way we took it and that’s the way we all had our minds set, focused on tonight. This was a must-win and it was nice to see our team answer the bell. It was impressive,” Strus said. “We had a lot of guys step up and make a lot of good plays. We just played really hard tonight and it was fun to watch. We’ve been up and down since the All-Star break, so to be able to find that consistency tonight and remain confident in ourselves and always felt like the game was in our hands, that’s something that we can look forward to and keep building on.”

The 46-win Pacers got a balanced scoring effort, with eight players in double figures. Pascal Siakam, the team’s prized trade acquisition, finished with 19 points on 7 of 15 from the field. Haliburton matched him with 19 points to go with 12 assists.

Since the start of training camp in late September, the Cavs have talked about being a different team from a year ago. They’ve talked about taking the next step: a return trip to the playoffs, only this one ending with a series win.

The first part of that mission has been accomplished.

“To be expected,” Mitchell said when asked about clinching Friday night. “To be honest, that’s the bare minimum for us. I think the biggest thing is how we’re playing and continue to build on that. It’s just like how can we be the best team we can be? Not harping on it, whoever we see, we see. But it’s great to be back where we belong in the playoffs and that’s pretty much the motivation for me. Just finding a way to continue to build.

“Tonight was pretty good. I think we are right where we need to be.”

Up next

The Cavs will wrap up the regular season on Sunday afternoon against the Charlotte Hornets. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.