INDIANAPOLIS – Tyrese Haliburton finished with 34 points and 13 assists and made a season-best nine 3-pointers to lead the Indiana Pacers past the undermanned New Orleans Pelicans 114-100 on Monday night.

Haliburton’s tiebreaker 3 with 3:06 left and Bennedict Mathurin’s alley-oop dunk after Haliburton’s pass with a minute left ultimately secured the win.

Myles Turner scored 17 points, including seven straight, during a turbulent fourth quarter that gave the Pacers momentum again.

Trey Murphy III led the Pelicans with 24 points, matching his season high. CJ McCollum scored 23 points in his first appearance in nearly a month and Elfrid Payton had a career-high 21 assists, the most in an NBA game this season.

The Pelicans have lost five straight, this time with WNBA star Caitlin Clark watching at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, to the delight of several girls wearing Clark’s Indiana Fever and Iowa jerseys.

Takeaways

Pelicans: With four expected Day 1 starters out due to injuries (Brandon Ingram, Herbert Jones, Dejounte Murray and Zion Williamson), it’s difficult to read much into Monday’s result. McCollum’s return could be a promising sign.

Pacers: Indiana also wasn’t at full strength with Andrew Nembhard (knee) and Aaron Nesmith (ankle) out again. Still, the first two games of a four-game homestand were used to get within two games of .500.

Key moment

With the score tied at 104, Haliburton hit a 3, followed by a layup and then fed Mathurin for the dunk that brought the crowd to its feet. The Pelicans never recovered from this upset.

Key statistics

Haliburton has scored 73 points in its last three games, its highest point total over a three-game stretch this season. His previous high was 58.

Next

New Orleans returns home to host the Toronto Raptors, while the Pacers host the Portland Trail Balzers on Wednesday night.

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