Tyrese Haliburton sets assists record and bench steps up in key Pacers' win over Thunder

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Pacers' took advantage of injuries that left the Thunder short-handed, knocking off the Western Conference contenders 126-112 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday night.

The Pacers improved to 44-34 to maintain slim hold on the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference with a critical game coming against seventh-place Miami on Sunday at 5 p.m. at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The Thunder fell to 52-25, taking a small step back to third in the tight race for the No. 1 seed in the West.

Here are four observations.

Tyrese Haliburton makes impact by passing first

Tyrese Haliburton went into Friday's game knowing he'd be guarded by one of the toughest perimeter defenders in the NBA in Luguentz Dort and that 1-5 switches would also leave him dealing with some of the longest arms in the profession -- those of 7-3 Thunder center Chet Holmgren. So he seemed have a sense early that he could make more of an impact by using his gravity to pass and set up others than to try to score.

And he was right.

Haliburton took just two shots in the first half and missed them both but he dished out eight assists and some of those were gems, teeing up layups and easy 3-pointers. He had two more assists early in the second half before he finally scored on a 3-pointer with 4:32 to go in the third. He scored on another layup and then hit a fallaway 3 at the end of the third quarter to finish with eight points. But he kept focusing on moving the ball.

"I thought I came out non-aggressive until I got the ball a little more in my hands a little more in the second quarter," Haliburton said. "We avoided pick-and-roll a little bit more than we usually do. I feel like we literally could score whenever we wanted to on pick and roll and I feel like once we did that it opened up a little bit more offensively."

With his 11th assist, he broke Mark Jackson's single-season franchise record with his 714th assist on the year. Jackson set the mark in 1997-98. Haliburton leads the NBA in the category with 11.0 per game this season.

"Tyrese Haliburton is defined by winning, not by scoring," Carlisle said. "He's defined by what a great teammate he is and how he helps his teammates win games. He was patient. He was disciplined. When opportunities presented themselves, he hit a couple of really big shots in the third quarter to give us some momentum. From there, we were able to finish the game off."

Thunder can't stop Pascal Siakam

With Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out and Dort locked up on Haliburton most of the time, Pascal Siakam found easy work in the lane continuing his string of excellent performances.

With drives to the rim and fadeaway jumpers in the lane that the Thunder couldn't get their hands on, Siakam knocked down 8 of 10 field goal attempts including a 3-pointer to finish with 21 points to go with five rebounds and two assists.

3-ball makes major difference for Indiana

Three-point shooting hasn't been a constant for the Pacers in recent weeks and they were coming off an abysmal 4 of 23 performance in the second half of their loss to Brooklyn on Wednesday. They've made paint attacks more of a staple of their approach in recent weeks.

However, on Friday, the Thunder were the team that was relentless in getting to the rim and the Pacers countered by shooting over top of them on the other end. The Pacers made 15 of 35 3-point attempts with eight of the 10 players who functioned as part of the rotation knocking down at least one. Meanwhile, the Thunder made just 8 of 30 3-point attempts, allowing the Pacers to outscore them by 21 points beyond the arc.

Forward Aaron Nesmith led the team with four 3-pointers on seven attempts, part of a 17-point night. Center Myles Turner drilled a pair of pick-and-pop 3s as part of a 16-point night. Haliburton hit a pair of 3s as did bench guards Ben Sheppard and Doug McDermott.

"Three-point shooting is a big factor, no question about it," Carlisle said. "The way the game started, they were shooting almost 70% for the first six or seven minutes. Once we were able to get some stops, it resulted in downhill momentum into some really good looks. The good catch-and-shoot looks off of defense are the ones that everyone wants and we got our fair share of those tonight."

Pacers' bench steps up

The Pacers seemed to be slouching their way to a second straight loss early in the first quarter, as they fell behind by 10 and started giving up layups.

The Pacers second unit took that as their moment to shine, however and they finished the first quarter on a 9-0 run to make it a one-point game, then forward Obi Toppin scored the first bucket of the second quarter to give the Pacers the lead. The Thunder answered and then the Pacers went on a 13-3 run, still with the bench on the floor.

"We didn't hang our heads when we were down," point guard T.J. McConnell said. "We kinda just dug in there on defense and got stops. I sound like a broken record, but we did what we do best and that's get out and run and create pace and get the fans involved and kinda created our own energy and went from there."

The Pacers' bench outscored Oklahoma City's 36-19 in the first half and four members of the bench -- point guard T.J. McConnell, center Jalen Smith, forward Obi Toppin and wing Doug McDermott, posted plus-minus figures of +10 or better.

"We were getting some stops and they just changed the tempo a little bit," Carlisle said. "Oklahoma City is so focused on Tyrese, making it hard on him and preventing him from getting shots. Once he was out of the game, the geometry of the game changed at both ends. Our second unit, they jumped on it. They got the ball off the boards, they got some deflections, we hit a couple of shots. Ben got one. Doug got one. T.J. got to the rim a few times and the crowd got into it."

The bench ended up outscoring the Thunder 61-44. McConnell posted a double-double with 16 points and 10 assists. Toppin scored 15 points. Smith had 12 before an ankle injury knocked him out of the game, but Isaiah Jackson added four and guard Ben Sheppard had eight.

McConnell was excellent but he was most impressed with the play of Toppin, who was 6 of 10 from the floor, grabbed eight rebounds and posted a +18 when he was on the floor.

"He's an elite player," McConnell said. "He was elite tonight. One of, if not the, reason we won the game. His energy. His defense. Him getting out and running and getting to the rim and shooting open 3s. Getting others involved. He did it all. He was incredible."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tyrese Haliburton, bench help Pacers grab key win over Thunder