DALLAS (AP) – Myles Turner scored all 20 of his points in the first-half, Tyrese Haliburton had 19 points and 11 assists, and the Indiana Pacers beat the Dallas Mavericks 137-120 yesterday despite Luka Doncic’s fourth consecutive game with a 30-point triple-double.
Doncic had 39 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Russell Westbrook is the lone player in NBA history with five straight 30-point triple-doubles, and Oscar Robertson is the only other player with four. Doncic shot 15 of 30 from the floor, including four for 13 behind the arc.
Nine players scored in double figures for the Pacers, including five reserves as Indiana’s bench outscored Dallas’ 69-32.
Bennedict Mathurin had 19 points off the bench for the Pacers. Starting forward Pascal Siakam added 13 points, 13 rebounds and six assists as Indiana bounced back from two straight losses, most recently to San Antonio, which is last in the Western Conference.
Kyrie Irving scored 23 for Dallas. PJ Washington had 20 points, and Daniel Gafford added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The Mavericks lost for the fifth time in six games following a season-best seven-game winning streak. Their skid began with a 133-111 loss at Indiana on February 25, when Turner scored a season-high 33 points.
Dallas (34-28) is in eighth place in the West. The Pacers (35-28) are eighth in the Eastern Conference, one game behind Miami.
The Pacers shot 46.2 per cent from long distance (18 of 39), compared to the Mavericks’ 33.3 per cent (13 of 39), with reserves hitting 11 of 20 led by Ben Sheppard with four three-pointers. Indiana went into play leading the NBA at 123.3 points per game but ranked ninth in 3s with 13.4 a game. Dallas entered third with 15 three-pointers per game, but the Mavs have the NBA’s worst-rated defence since the All-Star break.
Indiana built on a 74-70 halftime lead by scoring 20 of the first 26 points in the third period to go ahead 94-76 with five-and-a-half minutes left in the quarter. The Pacers led by double digits the rest of the way. They outscored the Mavericks 32-18 in the third, holding Dallas to 26.1 per cent shooting with Doncic going two of nine from the floor and missing his four three-point attempts.
