Haliburton breaks tie, Pacers win
INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton struggled to find his shooting touch Friday night.
So he looked for other ways to impact the game — a thunderous slam dunk off a rebound, finding open teammates and patiently waiting for a chance to make a statement. Then in the waning seconds of overtime, Haliburton wanted the ball.
The All-Star guard completed a threepoint play with 1.6 seconds left, capping his first postseason triple-double in his first home playoff game to give the Indiana Pacers a 121-118 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Indiana leads the bestof-seven series 2-1, with Game 4 on Sunday in Indianapolis.
“You know I was going to shoot it, no matter what,” Haliburton said. “What I was going to get was really based off of feel. there. Khris (Middleton) pushed Pascal (Siakam) up to tell Patrick (Beverley) to go under and as soon as I saw Patrick kind of turn his head, I reacted and everything opened up across the middle and I finally made a shot. I couldn’t buy a bucket tonight.”
Yes, Haliburton was just 8 of 22 from the field and 1 of 12 on 3-pointers. But he did just about everything else right, finishing with 18 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds as two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo again sat out for Milwaukee because of a strained left calf.
Myles Turner added 29 points and nine rebounds, both playoff career highs, to help give Indiana its first back-toback postseason wins since taking three straight in the 2014 Eastern Conference semifinals.
The Pacers also have their first lead in the playoffs since Game 3 of a first-round matchup against Cleveland in 2018. Indiana hasn’t won a series since reaching the 2014 Eastern Conference finals.
“It was a really fun game and overtime, what more could you ask for?” Haliburton said. “It was a really fun atmosphere.”
Perhaps not so fun for a Bucks team that has gotten more bruised and battered by the game.
Middleton finished with a playoff-career high 42 points and had 10 rebounds and five assists after missing practice Thursday because of a sprained right ankle. He forced overtime by making a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds to go in regulation, banked in a 3 to tie the score with 6.7 seconds left in overtime and then missed a 3 at the buzzer that could have forced a second overtime.
Damian Lillard added 28 points and eight assists, most coming after he hurt his left knee in the first quarter and then aggravating an Achilles tendon injury late in the fourth quarter.
“We’ve just got to turn the page and get one win after another,” said Lillard, who is playing in his first postseason with the Bucks, who are 2-6 against Indiana this season.