(CHICAGO, ILL.) – Tyrese Haliburton carries the Indiana Pacers (29-36) to a win over the Zach LaVine led Chicago Bulls (29-36) to end four-game road trip. The Pacers finished the four-game, ten-day road trip 3-1 following this afternoon’s 125-122 win.
After falling on Thursday night in San Antonio to the worst team in the NBA, the Indiana Pacers were able to get off to a good start in the first period courtesy of their All-Star in Tyrese Haliburton. After falling behind 14-5 to Chicago because of starting the game off with three turnovers, Haliburton scored Indiana’s next ten points to cut their deficit to five points. Indiana would not receive productive minutes from the other four starters. They combined to score 21 points, with Tyrese registering 16 of those points. Jordan Nwora had three and Myles Turner had a pair. On the other side for Chicago, they would let Indiana hang around that four-point deficit before extending it out to a quarter high ten points at 35-25. Bennedict Mathurin and Chris Duarte would make two shots to close the quarter for the Pacers as they trailed the Bulls 35-30. The leading scorer in the quarter was Haliburton, but Zach LaVine finished with 15 points in the quarter for the Bulls. As a team, Chicago shot a blistering 65% in the quarter including 60% from downtown and converted 6/7 free throws. Indiana stayed in the game because they knocked down six threes with Haliburton drilling all four of his attempts.
In the first quarter it was Tyrese keeping Indiana in the game, in the second quarter it would be Duarte and Mathurin leading the charge for the Pacers. The two would each score nine points for Indiana during the second period and catapult the Pacers from down 40-34 to leading 52-44 in just over four minutes of play. It started on the defensive end for Indiana because they forced Chicago to turn the ball over more times in the quarter (6), than rebounds collected (4). The defense for Indiana was not better either, the Bulls still shot 63% from the field in the quarter despite being outscored 37-25. Indiana would lead 67-60 at the break. Zach LaVine led all scorers with 24 points after a nine-point second quarter. Indiana’s leading scorer was Haliburton with 16.
Out of the four quarter, the third was the most balanced. Indiana played seven players in the quarter with six of them scoring, and Chicago played nine players and all of them scored. Another note about this quarter is that neither team went on a large run either. Just a balanced game overall despite Chicago shooting over 60% in the quarter for the third consecutive period. They did have one chance to tie the game in the early portion of the quarter, but they couldn’t get a stop either chance when their deficit was cut to two. Indiana would just answer with a mini run to get their lead back out to seven points. Indiana closed the third quarter with a pair of shots within the final 24 seconds with Haliburton scoring, Patrick Williams committing an offensive foul, and then Haliburton knocked down a floater. Indiana would 95-89 through 36-minutes.
The final quarter of play for Pacers fans would certainly be qualified as stressful. They would go up by nine after Oshae Brissett drilled a three at 104-95. That is when everything started to go downhill for Indiana. The next four minutes consisted of the Pacers scoring a total of four-points, allowing the Bulls to take the lead courtesy of LaVine drilling a triple and a pair of free throws to make it 111-108. The turning point for Indiana that allowed them to regain the lead was Haliburton knocking down a deep two-point shot while getting fouled by Patrick Beverley. That foul would be deemed a flagrant foul penalty one for not allowing Tyrese a landing spot. He would convert the free-throw, then Turner scored a layup pushing the Pacers ahead 117-114 with 2:35 left. DeRozan would make a couple mid-range jump shots to put Chicago back ahead. Within the final minute of the game, Buddy Hield knocked down his first three of the game with 34 seconds left to put Indiana ahead 122-120. LaVine would be fouled on a three on the ensuing possession by Mathurin, but he missed the final attempt that would have given Chicago the lead with 22.1 seconds remaining. Haliburton would dribble the clock down and then launch a 30+ foot three in the face of Beverley and knock it down with 2.1 remaining. Indiana would come up with a stop to win 125-122.
TOP PERFORMERS: Tyrese Haliburton (29p,11a), Bennedict Mathurin (17p,44, 3a), Zach LaVine (42p, 4r, 4a), DeMar DeRozan (23p, 5r, 3a), and Patrick Williams (14p). For this afternoon’s full box score, click here.
NOTES: Today’s win against Chicago marked the first time since 1997 they’ve defeated an opponent shooting 60%+ in a game, ending a 14-game winning streak, and are now 6-46 in those situations. Tyrese Haliburton recorded his 29th double-double on the year and 31st game with 10+ assists,
NEXT UP: The Pacers return home for a brief two game homestand with the first game coming tomorrow night against the Philadelphia 76ers at 7pm. On Saturday, Philadelphia overcome a 18-point deficit late in the third quarter to defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 133-130 after outscoring Milwaukee 48-31 in the fourth. The Kroger Pregame Show with Pat Boylan will start at 6:30pm eastern on 93.5/107.5 The Fan.
