Haliburton scores 34, delivers key plays to send Pacers past Pelicans

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tyrese Haliburton finished with 34 points and 13 assists and made a season best nine 3-pointers on Monday night, leading the Indiana Pacers past the short-handed New Orleans Pelicans 114-100.

Haliburton’s tiebreaking 3 with 3:06 to go and Bennedict Mathurin’s alley-oop dunk off Haliburton’s pass with a minute left finally secured the win.

Myles Turner added 17 points, including seven straight during a fourth-quarter flurry that swung the momentum back to the Pacers.

Trey Murphy III led the Pelicans with 24 points, matching his season high. CJ McCollum added 23 points in his first action in nearly a month, and Elfrid Payton dished out a career high 21 assists — the most in an NBA game this season.

The Pelicans have lost five straight, this one with WNBA star Caitlin Clark watching inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse to the delight of some girls dressed in Clark’s Indiana Fever and Iowa jerseys.

Takeaways

Pelicans: With four projected opening day starters sitting out because of injuries (Brandon Ingram, Herbert Jones, Dejounte Murray and Zion Williamson), it’s hard to read much into Monday’s result. McCollum’s return could be a promising sign.

Pacers: Indiana also has been less than full strength with Andrew Nembhard (knee) and Aaron Nesmith (ankle) out again. Still, it’s used the first two games of a four-game home stand to pull within two games of .500.

Key moment

With the score tied at 104, Haliburton knocked down a 3, followed with a layup and then fed Mathurin for the dunk that brought the crowd to its feet. The Pelicans didn’t recover from that flurry.

Key stat

Haliburton has scored 73 points in his last three games, his top scoring output over a three-game stretch this season. His previous high was 58.

Up next

New Orleans returns home to host the Toronto Raptors while the Pacers host the Portland Trail Balzers on Wednesday night.