By MICHAEL MAROT AP Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS — 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 became the first player with such a stat line in the postseason since turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78 and he carried the Pacers within a victory of their second trip to the NBA Finals. Nikola Jokic and Oscar Robertson are the only other players to post 30 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds in a playoff game.
Game 5 is Thursday in New York.
“I’ll look at that later and reflect on that at a different time. For me, it’s just about winning,” Haliburton said. “I wanted to prove I could respond when my back is against the wall, my team’s back is against the wall. I feel like we responded the right way.”
Pascal Siakam added 30 points while Haliburton had four steals in his second career postseason triple-double. Obi Toppin’s 3-pointer with 46 seconds left sealed it.
Jalen Brunson scored 31 points. 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 and leaves the Knicks one loss away from getting eliminated for the second straight year by Indiana.
“We’ve all got to be better. We’ve got to be better as a team,” Towns said after shaking off a left leg injury with 2:11 to play to finish the game. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t find a way tonight when we found a way in all the other series to do it.”
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. Haliburton also brought New York firefighter Hans Perez, a Pacers fan, to the game and gave him a signed No. 0 jersey.
John Haliburton had been forced to watch Indiana’s previous eight postseason games from afar after he ran onto the court and confronted Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo following his son’s last-second shot to eliminate the Bucks in the first round. The Pacers allowed him to return for Game 4 and he sat in a suite.
Both teams were shooting at a clip of 70% long into the first quarter as the Pacers raced to a 43-35 lead. 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 his third career triple-double.
“He was our leader tonight and we had some difficult film stuff yesterday, not fun,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We allowed things to go a different direction than they needed to go in Game 3 and tonight we were determined to turn it back in our direction.”
Did they ever.
Indiana 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 111-96 lead.
New York got as close as six three times in the closing minutes but couldn’t get any loser.
Haliburton poked some fun at his father’s situation.
“I know people were saying, ‘Free Pops’ and Pops is free, but he was not in jail,” said the younger Haliburton, who never complained publicly about the punishment. “He has a very beautiful home, very pretty to watch basketball. So he was just fine. I just wanted to win.”
There’s no word yet on whether the father will attend Game 5 in New York when Indiana could clinch its second trip to the NBA Finals.
During the eight games John Haliburton was not allowed to attend (home or away), he generated his own celebrity at local watering holes.
“My dad is just fine. He lives just fine, he’s watching the game in a beautiful home or he finds his way into a sports bar with a bunch of Pacers fans,” Haliburton said, drawing laughter. “There was a lot of commentary around him, especially right after, which I think some was warranted and some went a little too far, but I think that’s just sports and that’s just talking heads. What can you do? But I don’t think there was any emotion to it.”
Haliburton said he understood the decision while explaining his father’s excitement was more about being proud rather than any malicious intent. And on Tuesday night, he produced the kind of game that his father will never forget.
“Obviously, my dad being here is special,” Haliburton said. “But growing up, he was working a lot on weekends so he didn’t come to a lot of my games and when he did come to my games, I wanted to play well. So, of course, I wanted to play well.”
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