Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner lead Pacers to slump-busting win over Mavericks

DALLAS -- After two straight losses, the Pacers got their offense rolling and got a solid defensive quarter when they needed it to beat the Mavericks 137-120 at American Airlines Center on Tuesday night.

The Pacers improved to 35-28, matching last season's win total. The Mavericks fell to 34-29.

Here are four observations.

The lid comes off for Tyrese Haliburton

When Tyrese Haliburton finally got a 3-pointer to fall with 10:10 to go in the third quarter after 14 straight misses, he raised both arms in the sky to rejoice, as it was about time.

Haliburton had gone 0 of 6 from 3-point range in the Pacers' previous two games and was 4 of 23 overall from the field, and though he was playing well overall on Tuesday offensively he had still missed his first two 3-pointers.

After that shot, he very much looked like himself again, hitting another 3-pointer shortly thereafter. He missed his next two after that, bu he had more bounce in his step as an attacker coming off ball screens and he scored 12 points in the third quarter alone.

Even before the shot, though, Haliburton was doing an excellent job running the offense. The Pacers still looked for ways to move him off the ball, but he seemed to be getting more ball screens and more work as the trigger man in the offense than he had been in recent weeks and even though he was attracting lots of attention, as usual, from the Mavericks top defenders Josh Green and P.J. Washington as well as big man Derick Lively on switches, he did exceptional work in finding the open man. Often that was Myles Turner on rolls or pops, but also others on skip passes. In the first half, he took just four shots -- hitting both he took inside the arc and missing both he took outside -- but he dished out eight assists against two turnovers.

"Tyrese had a spectacular game," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "His stats aren't spectacular by his standards, but his floor leadership and the way he led the team tonight was really tremendous and important."

In the fourth quarter, Haliburton scored just three points but he finished with 19 for the game on 8 of 15 shooting and 11 assists. He ended up making just 3 of 10 from 3-point range, but those three still meant a lot.

"It was just good to get the lid off," Haliburton said. "I was still 3 for 10. It's still not going in the way I want it to. But it comes with time."

Myles Turner beat up on the Mavs again

Dallas area native and former Texas star Myles Turner gets a boost out of playing his hometown team and not just because everybody back home can watch him. The Mavericks seem comfortable daring him to shoot the ball and giving him room to operate in the paint on pick and rolls, focusing more attention on making sure they don't get burned by Tyrese Haliburton. After scoring 33 points on the Mavericks when they last met in Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Feb. 25, Turner went off yet again.

Turner scored 12 of the Pacers' first 18 points, and at halftime he had 20 points on 7 of 10 shooting, hitting 1 of 4 3-pointers. He was scoreless in the second half but his 20 were still critical.

"I was just being aggressive," Turner said. "Tyrese obviously makes my life a lot easier. He makes it easy to get to my spots and it's just up to me to deliver. I was able to do that in that first half."

As per usual when Turner comes to Dallas, he had lots of family and friends in town and he represented his home in both games in Texas this week wearing his massive cowboy boots into the arena.

"It's always love when I'm back home in Texas," Turner said. "I got a lot of people out there rooting for me. I've got a whole section so I'm gonna go say what's up to them. The most I've ever had at a game was 70. We'll see if we topped that this year."

Pacers' defensive third quarter changes game

The Pacers and Mavericks are both better offensive teams than they are defensive teams, so it wasn't of much surprise that at halftime, both were on pace to score 140 points with the Pacers leading 74-70.

The Mavericks couldn't stop the Pacers constant ball movement, pace and sharing of the basketball and the Pacers couldn't stop Luka Doncic. At the break, the four-time All-NBA pick and the league's leading scorer already had 28 points on 11 of 17 shooting. The Pacers were shooting 60% from the floor and the Mavericks weren't far behind at 55.3%. The Pacers had a gaudy 1.41 points per possession. The Mavericks were right on their heels at 1.36. Both of course, are figures that would lead the NBA by a long ways if a team somehow maintained them for a season.

All it took, though, was one consistent stretch of good defense to change the course of the game and the Pacers got that in the third period.

Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith had been battling Doncic all night and finding just how small the margin for error is against him but he finally got some breaks in the third quarter when Doncic missed some tough shots he sometimes makes.

Rookie Ben Sheppard also did some good work on him in that period and Doncic was 2 of 9 from the field in the third including 0 of 4 from 3 or just six points.

Doncic finished with a triple double with 39 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. However he was 15 of 30 from the field and 4 of 13 from 3-point range. He turned the ball over five times and the Mavericks were -18 when he was on the floor.

"It really is just wearing him down in the course of the game," Nesmith said. "He plays a lot of minutes. His team asks a lot of him. He usually comes out in the game making shots, making tough shots, making plays. I thought we did a good job of not putting our head down when he makes tough ones, continuing to make him work and it showed in the second half. I knew what the goal was. It's nothing new, I've done it before. Just knowing he's going to go get his. As long as I make him work for it, he'll be short in the second half and that will helps us in the long run."

The Mavericks collectively made just 2 of their first 11 shots and finished the period 6 of 23 from the field, including 1 of 8 from 3-point range, posting a miserable efficiency figure of 0.69 points per possession. The Pacers' shooting was just OK in the period at 11 of 25, but they still posted 1.19 points per possession and won the period 32-18, taking a 106-88 lead into the fourth. The Pacers outscored the Mavericks 105-102 in the other three quarters, but that period alone was enough to give them the edge.

The Mavericks posted at least 1.15 points per possession in each of the other three quarters, including 1.61 in the second and they were a combined 39 of 70 from the floor (55.7%) in the other three periods. But one quarter was enough to change the game.

"We just locked in, man," Turner said. "I think we knew Luka was going to get his. We knew Kyrie (Irving) was gonna get his. It's just a matter of slowing those guys down and limiting their role players."

Bennedict Mathurin stars as Pacers' bench overwhelms Dallas

Bennedict Mathurin was battling foot soreness before the game and he was listed as questionable shortly before game time. He was the last member of the Pacers' second unit to check into the game, but his impact was immediate and it ended up being massive. The second-year wing scored 19 points on 7 of 16 shooting including 3 of 10 from 3-point range and he also did solid work on the defensive end.

His scoring was just part of an overwhelming performance by the Pacers' bench as they outscored the Dallas subs 69-32. All five players in the second unit scored in double figures as did four starters, giving the Pacers nine with more than 10 points overall.

Rookie guard Ben Sheppard returned from illness to score 12 points, shooting 4 of 6 from 3-point range Forward Obi Toppin scored 14 points on 5 of 6 shooting, hitting 2 of 3 3-pointers as well. Center Jalen Smith had 11 and five rebounds and point guard T.J. McConnell had 13, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and dishing out seven assists. As a group, the second unit shot 54.3% from the field and was 11 of 20 from 3-point range.

The Pacers added to their NBA lead in bench scoring, as their substitutes average 47.3 points per game. Utah is second with 44.5, so the gap is significant. They also lead the NBA in bench field goal percentage (.508). They rank second in bench 3-point percentage (.385) and fourth in bench assists (11.1 per game).

"I think the bench's success has been a big part of what we've been able to do this year," Sheppard said. "I think we take a major advantage when we're able to outscore the other team's bench. All the productivity we do with that second and third unit adds a lot to what we're doing."

Indiana 137, Dallas 120

INDIANA (137)

Nesmith 1-3 3-4 6, Siakam 5-11 3-3 13, Turner 7-14 5-6 20, Haliburton 8-15 0-0 19, Nembhard 4-4 0-0 10, Toppin 5-6 2-2 14, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 4-7 2-5 11, Mathurin 7-16 3-3 19, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, McConnell 5-10 1-1 13, Sheppard 4-7 0-0 12. Totals 50-93 19-24 137.

DALLAS (120)

Green 3-7 0-0 6, Washington 7-12 2-2 20, Lively II 0-2 0-0 0, Doncic 15-30 5-6 36, Irving 8-19 4-4 23, Jones Jr. 1-1 0-0 2, Kleber 0-3 0-0 0, Gafford 7-7 2-5 16, Powell 0-0 0-0 0, Hardaway Jr. 2-8 0-0 6, Exum 1-1 2-2 4, Hardy 0-2 2-2 2, Lawson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 45-93 17-21 120.

3-Point Goals—Indiana 18-39 (Sheppard 4-6, Haliburton 3-10, McConnell 2-2, Nembhard 2-2, Toppin 2-3, Mathurin 2-7, Nesmith 1-2, Smith 1-2, Turner 1-5), Dallas 13-39 (Washington 4-8, Doncic 4-13, Irving 3-9, Hardaway Jr. 2-5, Green 0-1, Kleber 0-3). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Indiana 43 (Siakam 13), Dallas 41 (Doncic, Gafford 10). Assists_Indiana 34 (Haliburton 11), Dallas 23 (Doncic 11). Total Fouls_Indiana 21, Dallas 23. A_20,200 (19,200)

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Mavs: Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner lead Pacers to win