CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 23 of his 38 points in the second half, James Harden had 28 points and seven assists and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the injury-plagued Indiana Pacers 117-108 on Sunday night.
Thomas Bryant added 14 points and 10 rebounds in his first start of the season for Cleveland, which didn’t take its initial lead until the third quarter. It went ahead for good early in the fourth at 99-96 on Nae’Qwan Tomlin's 3-pointer, eventually going up by 15.
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Indiana Pacers guard Kobe Brown (24) shoots as Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden, left, defends in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Indiana Pacers forward Jalen Slawson, center, grabs a pass between Cleveland Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. (22) and guard Max Strus, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) knocks the ball away from Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Indiana Pacers center Micah Potter (11) dunks next to Cleveland Cavaliers center Thomas Bryant, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Indiana Pacers guard Quenton Jackson (29) is fouled by Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
The playoff-bound Cavaliers (49-29) reduced their magic number for home-court advantage in the first round to one, despite resting their starting frontcourt of Jarrett Allen, Evan Mobley and Sam Merrill. Mitchell made 16 of 27 shots and had six rebounds and six assists in 33 minutes.
Fourth-place Cleveland is four games ahead of Atlanta in the Eastern Conference with four to play. It hosts the Hawks on Wednesday night, then plays at Atlanta on Friday night.
Obi Toppin scored a season-high 21 points with eight rebounds, and Micah Potter had 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Pacers (18-60). Two-way forward Jalen Slawson scored a career-best 19 points.
Indiana only had nine players in uniform -- and was missing its top five scorers -- after losing All-Star forward Pascal Siakam (left ankle sprain) and guard Ben Sheppard (right hip sprain) to injuries in its previous game Friday at Charlotte.
The Pacers have the second-worst record in the NBA, one game in front of Washington.
Slawson scored 14 points and had four 3-pointers as the Pacers built a 47-35 advantage early in the second. Indiana made eight threes in the first half.
Indiana carried a 58-55 lead into the break as Potter had 14 points and seven rebounds, while Harden scored 19 and Mitchell had 15 points for the Cavaliers.
Pacers: Host Minnesota on Tuesday night.
Cavaliers: At Memphis on Monday night.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Indiana Pacers guard Kobe Brown (24) shoots as Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden, left, defends in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Indiana Pacers forward Jalen Slawson, center, grabs a pass between Cleveland Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. (22) and guard Max Strus, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) knocks the ball away from Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin (1) in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Indiana Pacers center Micah Potter (11) dunks next to Cleveland Cavaliers center Thomas Bryant, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Indiana Pacers guard Quenton Jackson (29) is fouled by Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell, right, in the first half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is drifting Thursday following a rebound for oil prices and mixed reports on the U.S. economy.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3% and is on track for a fourth drop in five days after setting its all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 37 points, or 0.1%, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.6% lower.
A halt in the torrid run for stocks benefiting from the artificial-intelligence boom has slowed the U.S. market recently. Not even another better-than-expected profit report from Nvidia was enough to kick it back into gear.
The chip company reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected, while also forecasting revenue for the current quarter that cleared analysts’ estimates. “The buildout of AI factories — the largest infrastructure expansion in human history — is accelerating at extraordinary speed,” CEO Jensen Huang said.
Such performances and such talk have become routine, though, and Nvidia's stock swiveled between losses and gains before slipping 1.9%.
Some analysts said the muted reaction may have simply been because investors were locking in profits after Nvidia’s stock had soared nearly 70% over the prior year, more than double the S&P 500’s 27% jump. The broad AI industry is also getting criticism for becoming too expensive, as well as too circular as Nvidia has bought ownership stakes in companies that use its own chips that drive Nvidia’s revenue.
Pressure built on Wall Street, meanwhile, as the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil climbed 2.1% to $107.26 and trimmed its loss for the week. Oil prices have been swinging up and down with uncertainty about how long the war with Iran will keep the Strait of Hormuz shut, which is preventing oil tankers from exiting the Persian Gulf to deliver crude.
That helped push Treasury yields upward in the bond market, resuming their rises following a slowdown the day before.
Climbing yields have cranked up the pressure on financial markets worldwide. They're slowing economies and weighing on prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. Besides driving up rates for mortgages, high yields could also curtail companies’ borrowing to build the AI data centers that have been supporting the U.S. economy’s growth recently.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.60% from 4.57% late Wednesday.
It had gotten near 4.63% earlier in the morning, after a report gave the latest signal that the U.S. job market remains in better shape than economists expected. The number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits last week unexpectedly declined in an indication of fewer layoffs.
But yields then eased a bit following a preliminary report showing weaker-than-expected growth for business activity among U.S. services businesses, but improved growth for U.S. manufacturers. Companies are feeling the effects of accelerating inflation and are seeing subdued growth in their order books, preliminary data from the S&P Global survey said.
“The damaging economic impact from the war in the Middle East is becoming increasingly evident in the business surveys,” according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Inflation is worsening even beyond the high oil prices caused by the Iran war, while U.S. households are showing widespread discouragement about the economy.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, Walmart fell 6.8% following its profit report. The retailer delivered another quarter of impressive revenue but offered up weaker forecasts for upcoming profit than analysts expected.
On the winning side of Wall Street was Ralph Lauren, which jumped 10.5% after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following bigger moves in Asian markets.
South Korea’s Kospi Kospi soared 8.4% thanks to strength for technology stocks. Samsung Electronics jumped 8.5% after its labor union and management reached an agreement late Wednesday that averted a potentially costly strike. SK Hynix, a chip company partnering with Nvidia, surged 11.2%.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 3.1%, while indexes fell 1% in Hong Kong and 2% in Shanghai.
AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.
Trader Aaron Ford works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, May 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Edward McCarthy works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A Global Medical Response helicopter sits in front of the New York Stock Exchange before the planned IPO of GMR Solutions, Inc., Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, May 18, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Currency traders watch monitors at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader talks on the phone near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
