Myles Turner scored a season-high 33 points, Tyrese Haliburton added 17 points and 10 assists and the Indiana Pacers beat Dallas 133-111 on Sunday night to snap the Mavericks’ Western Conference-best seven-game winning streak.
Luka Doncic finished with 33 points, six assists and six rebounds for the Mavericks, who shot 47% from the field but allowed Indiana to shoot 56% and make 14 3-pointers. Kyrie Irving had 29 points and six rebounds for Dallas.
“The whole game for us was about our edge, our competitiveness,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who had a 13-year coaching tenure with the Mavericks. “We just wanted to stay aggressive and not look at the scoreboard, just play our game. You’re never going to have an easy game against a team like Dallas."
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Andrew Nembhard and Haliburton broke it open midway through the fourth quarter, pushing the Pacers in front 120-102. Dallas, which was within four earlier in the final period, later trailed by as many as 22.
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“Give them credit," Dallas coach Jason Kidd said. "They were making shots. We’ll learn from it. We had 15 assists, the lowest of the season. Haliburton caused us a problem driving. Turner, he kind of finds his way to top of the key or the 3-point line. He was wide open, so we have to do better.”
Nembhard and Ben Sheppard scored 15 apiece for Indiana, which has won three in a row to bolster its tenuous hold on sixth place in the East. Bennedict Mathurin added 14 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
Doncic, who leads the league with an average of 34.3 points per game this season, had 25 in the first half in a matchup against the league’s highest-scoring team. Indiana entered averaging 123.8 points per game.
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Neither side led by more than eight in a first half that ended with Indiana ahead 67-60. It was tied at 32 at the end of the first quarter. The Pacers carried a 100-91 lead to the fourth.
“We locked in defensively,” Turner said. “They’ve got some special talent over there. We still have 24 games left to try to make some more hay.”
Indiana played without starting wing Aaron Nesmith, averaging 12.6 points per game, because of a sprained right ankle.
The Mavericks held out reserve guard Dante Exum (9.2 points per game) but hope to have him back Tuesday after missing a month with knee bursitis.
UP NEXT
Mavericks: Continue their four-game road trip Tuesday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Pacers: Host the Toronto Raptors on Monday night.
