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Tyrese Haliburton had 32 points, 15 assists and 12 rebounds without a turnover in a sensational postseason performance to lead the Indiana Pacers past the New York Knicks 130-121 on Tuesday night for a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
With his father, John, back in Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Haliburton carried the Pacers to within a victory of their second trip to the NBA finals. Game 5 is on Thursday in New York.
“I’m excited about it, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Haliburton said of the chance to clinch the series in Madison Square Garden. “It’s a great environment to play in.”
Pascal Siakam added 30 points while Haliburton had four steals in his second career postseason triple-double. Obi Toppin’s three-pointer with 46 seconds left sealed the game.
“I was just trying to aggressive and respond, I felt like I let the team down in [the Game 3 loss], it’s a big win for us,” said Haliburton.
The Pacers have not lost consecutive games since 10 March. History is with the Pacers: teams leading playoff series 3-1 have a 283-13 record of progressing.
Jalen Brunson scored 31 points for the Knicks. Karl-Anthony Towns had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and OG Anunoby finished with 22 points. But the Knicks couldn’t rally from another double-digit deficit. It marked the first time in the series the home team won.
Nearly a dozen former Pacers players, including Jermaine O’Neal and Lance Stephenson, joined Haliburton’s father in the heavily gold-clad crowd. So did WWE Hall of Famer Triple H, rappers Rob 49 and 50 Cent and singers John Mellencamp and Jelly Roll. The Knicks had their own fan section featuring film director Spike Lee and actors Timothee Chalamet and Ben Stiller.
What they witnessed was one of the most entertaining games of this postseason. Both teams were shooting at a clip of 70% long into the first quarter as the Pacers raced to a 43-35 lead. New York stormed back in the second quarter reclaiming the lead three times, the last at 64-63. But Haliburton helped Indiana close the half on a 6-0 run to make it 69-64 as he finished the half just two rebounds short of a triple-double.
Indiana then opened the second half with an even more aggressive style that spurred a 9-2 run and closed the quarter on a 9-4 spurt to extend the margin to 102-91. Siakam scored the final five points of a 9-3 run early in the fourth to give Indiana a 1110-96 lead.
New York got as close as six three times in the closing minutes, but Towns limped to the bench after hurting his left knee with 2:11 to play and finished the game.
Haliburton’s father was back in the arena after being banned from watching live following a confrontation with Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo earlier in the playoffs. Haliburton was asked if his father’s presence had helped him. His answer was short: “Hell yeah!”
