Indiana Pacers snap Dallas Mavericks winning streak with impressive home victory
The Indiana Pacers hosted the Dallas Mavericks for a Sunday afternoon battle. Both teams entered the day on a winning streak — Dallas had been one of the hottest teams in the NBA of late.
With Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving leading the way, the Mavericks are almost impossible to stop. Indiana's offense needed to be excellent in this game because they weren't going to be able to slow down the visitors.
Early in the game, that reality hit the Pacers hard. Doncic scored five points in the first 80 seconds of action to get Dallas rolling, Indiana was already playing catch up. They were able to keep things close over the next few minutes, but it was clear that defense was going to be a struggle for the blue and gold.
Their offense wasn't good enough in the early portions of the game, with Dallas leading 17-11 after just under six minutes. Indiana head coach Rick Carlisle took a timeout at that moment to recalibrate.
The stoppage helped, as did a few substitutions. The Pacers second unit was able to put a dent in the deficit and cut the Mavs edge down to one. That bench group was humming early on, with Jalen Smith playing for the first time in 17 days.
Indiana's bench continued to climb and tied the game up at 30 in the final minute of the quarter. At that time, it was a five-man reserve unit, but they were clicking. After one period, the score was tied at 32. Pascal Siakam and Bennedict Mathurin were the Pacers leaders with six points each.
The Pacers grabbed their first lead of the night early in the second quarter after a bucket from T.J. McConnell. After a slower start, they were finally playing well and controlling the pace.
At that moment, Dallas went on an 8-0 run to reclaim the lead. They were rolling after a stoppage. Carlisle took another timeout with his opponents in the bonus — there was still a ton of time left in the second period.
The next few minutes of the game went back-and-forth with neither team able to grab too much momentum. It was difficult for either team to settle in with the game being played at such a fast pace. It was 57-51 in favor of Indiana with five minutes to go until halftime.
Tyrese Haliburton got rolling with a few minutes to go in the first half and was looking to score. With 3:18 on the clock in the second quarter, he reached 10 points to go with his seven assists. The Pacers were up 63-55 at the time.
They held that advantage into halftime. It was 67-60 at the break. Doncic had 25 points. Myles Turner had 15 while Haliburton had 12 and seven assists.
The third period began with several nice offensive possessions from the blue and gold, who were ahead by 10 two minutes into the quarter. Turner was making more plays with the ball while being an engine offensively.
Dallas hung around for the next few minutes, though. When they have Doncic on the floor, they can do anything. With about six minutes remaining in the third period, they cut the Pacers edge down to four. Indiana's play was wobbly at the time.
With about five minutes to go in the third, Turner reached 30 points for the first time of the season. He was in a zone. It was his season-high in scoring, and there was a lot of time left in the game.
Mathurin hit a few shots to get Indiana's advantage to 11 with 2:21 remaining in the third quarter. Their offense was humming, which was vital since they were unable to slow down the Mavs consistently to that point.
When the frame came to an end, the Pacers were ahead 100-91. Turner had 30 points while Doncic had 33. It was an offensive battle — if Indiana kept scoring, they were going to have a good chance to win.
Irving scored on consecutive possessions for the Mavericks to open the final quarter, a bad sign for the blue and gold. They needed to find a way to slow him down, especially with their bench group failing to score a few times early in the quarter.
Irving hit a three just before the nine-minute mark of the period to cut the Pacers edge to six, and he followed it up with a tough jumper over Doug McDermott. Carlisle took a timeout with 8:53 left in the game and his team up by four.
The stoppage was important. Indiana's bench, with three outside shots coming from Obi Toppin and Ben Sheppard, quickly pushed the lead back to 11. That stretch, which came just before the Pacers starters re-entered the game, was critical.
The starting five dominated upon re-entering. They went on a run over the next 3.5 minutes and extended their lead to 20 and 124-104. A few more effective possessions would put the game away.
They happened quickly as Indiana took a 21-point advantage with 2:30 to go. All they had to do was run out the clock and they were going to win.
Indiana reached the finished line with a 133-111 win. They dominated the final period to get the victory.
Turner finished with 33 points and eight rebounds. Haliburton had 17 points and 10 assists. Sheppard knocked down a bunch of threes on his way to a career-high 15 points.
The Pacers are on a three-game winning streak and are now 33-25. They next play tomorrow night when they host the Toronto Raptors.
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