Tyrese Haliburton delivered a one-of-a-kind efficiency on Tuesday evening, and it put the Indiana Pacers one victory away from reaching the NBA Finals for the primary time since 2000.
Haliburton recorded 32 factors, 15 assists and 12 rebounds and not using a turnover to steer the Pacers to a 130-121 victory over the New York Knicks in Sport 4 of the Japanese Convention finals in Indianapolis. He’s the primary participant in NBA historical past to place up that stat line (30-15-10-0) in a postseason recreation.
Along with notching his second profession postseason triple-double, Haliburton made 5 3-pointers and had 4 steals to assist the Pacers take a 3-1 lead within the best-of-seven collection.
Haliburton considered the superlative effort as one thing he owed to his teammates after the group’s Sport 3 loss on Sunday.
“I used to be simply making an attempt to be aggressive, making an attempt to reply,” Haliburton stated. “I felt like I let the group down in Sport 3, so it was necessary for me to only come out right here and make performs. Guys put me in place to make performs and play my recreation. It was a giant win for us.”
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There’s no shock which quantity Pacers coach Rick Carlisle appreciated most: the zero within the turnover column.
“He was actually throwing the ball forward tonight, which was actually necessary to us,” Carlisle stated. “To not have any turnovers in any of these sorts of conditions is fairly outstanding. However this has grow to be his factor. I do know he takes nice pleasure in it, and that’s a motivating issue. …
“He occurs to do some spectacular statistical issues, however he’s effectively conscious that each one of this far transcends statistics.”
The Pacers will attempt to wrap up the collection Thursday in New York.
Pascal Siakam scored 30 factors, Bennedict Mathurin added 20 in 12-plus minutes off the bench and Aaron Nesmith contributed 16 factors for fourth-seeded Indiana. It was Siakam’s second 30-point effort of the collection.
Jalen Brunson scored 31 factors, Karl-Anthony Cities had 24 factors and 12 rebounds and OG Anunoby added 22 factors for the third-seeded Knicks. Mikal Bridges scored 17 factors and Josh Hart added 12 factors and 11 rebounds for New York.
“We scored 120 factors, however our protection wasn’t ok,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau stated. “Our rebounding was ok. However our protection and our turnovers harm us.”
Thibodeau attributed Haliburton’s historic outing to his group’s breakdown.
“Haliburton’s an incredible participant,” Thibodeau stated. “You don’t guard nice gamers on this league individually. It’s your total group. And if one man shouldn’t be doing their job, everybody goes to look unhealthy.”
Cities injured his left knee for the second consecutive recreation and was hobbling on the end. Thibodeau stated Cities could be examined.
“I’m solely occupied with the loss. I’m not occupied with that proper now,” Cities stated of the knee. “It’s disappointing whenever you don’t win. We didn’t do sufficient to get the job accomplished.”
In the meantime, Nesmith was declared good to go by Carlisle greater than an hour earlier than tipoff. He had sprained his proper ankle halfway by the third quarter of Sport 3 on Sunday.
Myles Turner added 13 factors earlier than fouling out for Indiana, which shot 51.1 % from the sphere and 13 of 32 from 3-point vary. The Pacers once more excelled in transition with a 22-9 edge in fastbreak factors to extend their benefit to 65-23 in that class for the collection.
The Knicks made 46.3 % of their pictures and had been 12 of 28 from behind the arc. New York had a 44-33 rebounding edge.
The Pacers scored the primary seven factors of the second half to conclude a 13-0 burst and seize a 76-64 benefit.
The Knicks minimize their deficit to 89-84 after two free throws by Brunson with 3:59 left within the third quarter. Nonetheless, a 3-pointer by Haliburton made it 99-89 with 55.6 seconds left within the interval and the Pacers took a 102-91 lead into the ultimate stanza.
Siakam scored 5 straight factors early within the quarter to offer Indiana its largest lead at 111-96. However New York scored seven straight to maneuver inside 115-109 after a putback by Cities with 4:24 left.
Indiana maintained its tempo and the lead was 126-116 after Obi Toppin drilled a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left.
“We haven’t accomplished something but,” stated Siakam, who was a standout on the Toronto Raptors’ title-winning group in 2019. “Can’t get too pleased with the highs, can’t get too low with the lows. That may be my speech all season.”
Haliburton was electrical within the first half — with 20 factors, 10 assists and 9 rebounds — because the Pacers led 69-64 on the break. Indiana scored the ultimate six factors of the half. Brunson scored 16 for New York.