Jakarta. Tyrese Haliburton delivered a historic postseason performance with 32 points, 15 assists, and 12 rebounds --all without a turnover-- leading the Indiana Pacers to a 130-121 victory over the New York Knicks on Tuesday night. The win gives Indiana a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.
With his father, John Haliburton, watching from Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Tyrese became the first player since turnovers were tracked starting in 1977-78 to post such a stat line in the playoffs. Only Nikola Jokic and Oscar Robertson have previously recorded 30 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds in a postseason game.
Game 5 is scheduled for Thursday in New York.
“I’ll look at that later and reflect on it at a different time. For me, it’s just about winning,” Haliburton said. “I wanted to prove I could respond when my back is against the wall, my team’s back is against the wall. I feel like we responded the right way.”
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Pascal Siakam added 30 points, and Haliburton recorded four steals in his second career postseason triple-double. Obi Toppin’s 3-pointer with 46 seconds remaining sealed the win.
Jalen Brunson scored 31 points for the Knicks. Karl-Anthony Towns finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds, while OG Anunoby had 22 points. However, New York was unable to rally from another double-digit deficit.
The win marked the first home victory of the series and put the Knicks one loss away from elimination for the second consecutive year by the Pacers.
“We’ve all got to be better. We’ve got to be better as a team,” Towns said after playing through a left leg injury in the final minutes. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t find a way tonight when we found a way in all the other series to do it.”
The crowd was filled with nearly a dozen former Pacers, including Jermaine O’Neal and Lance Stephenson, along with WWE Hall of Famer Triple H, rappers Rob 49 and 50 Cent, and singers John Mellencamp and Jelly Roll. Haliburton also brought New York firefighter Hans Perez, a Pacers fan, to the game and gifted him a signed No. 0 jersey.
John Haliburton had been barred from attending Indiana’s previous eight playoff games after confronting Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo on the court following his son’s last-second shot to eliminate Milwaukee in the first round. The team allowed him to return for Game 4, where he watched from a suite.
Both teams shot nearly 70 percent early in the first quarter as Indiana took a 43-35 lead. Haliburton helped the Pacers close the half on a 6-0 run to lead 69-64, finishing the half just two rebounds shy of his triple-double.
“He was our leader tonight, and we had some difficult film stuff yesterday, not fun,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We allowed things to go a different direction than they needed to go in Game 3, and tonight we were determined to turn it back in our direction.”
Indiana came out of halftime aggressively, sparking a 9-2 run and ending the third quarter on a 9-4 run to extend the lead to 102-91. Siakam scored the final five points of a 9-3 run early in the fourth, pushing the margin to 111-96.
New York cut the lead to six points three times in the final minutes, but never got closer.
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