Indiana Pacers outgun Atlanta Hawks to advance in NBA in-season tournament
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Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton driving to the basket against the Atlanta Hawks during the second half at State Farm Arena.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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ATLANTA – The Indiana Pacers are “ready to go” after they became the first team to reach the knockout stage of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) new in-season tournament on Nov 21.
Tyrese Haliburton, who had said the new competition gave “more juice” to early-season games, scored 26 of his 37 points in the third quarter as the Pacers overcame a 20-point first-half deficit to defeat the Atlanta Hawks 157-152 on the road.
In the fourth quarter, it was Buddy Hield who stepped up, scoring 13 of his 24 points as Indiana came out on top of a furious back-and-forth finish.
“It’s good to clinch, it’s exciting,” Haliburton, who also handed out 16 assists, said after the Pacers improved to 3-0 in tournament play and locked up first place in East Group A.
“Buddy won us the game down the stretch, a lot of big buckets.
“We are the first team to clinch and we are ready to go. We have a few more games before the quarter-finals, so we want to take care of what is in front of us first, but we want to win the championship, of course. It would be awesome.”
Hield’s three-pointer put Indiana up 152-150 with 1min 20sec remaining. After Saddiq Bey pulled Atlanta level with a lay-up, he drained another three for a 155-152 Pacers lead with less than a minute to go. Hield then capped the outrageous scoring with an alley-oop lay-up with five-tenths of a second remaining.
Obi Toppin scored 21 points off the bench for Indiana and Bennedict Mathurin added 19.
Trae Young scored 38 points to lead the Hawks, who led by 20 in the second quarter.
“Tyrese, you just run out of accolades,” Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said of Haliburton’s 37 points. “Fearless, leader, great competitor – so happy for him.
“Atlanta were playing for a lot too. The in-season tournament is getting a lot of buzz. This is a real thing.”
The quarter-finals will be played on Dec 4 and 5, with winners advancing to the semi-finals on Dec 7 and a championship match on Dec 9 in Las Vegas.
It was a tight finish in Philadelphia, where Darius Garland scored 32 points to lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 122-119 overtime victory over the 76ers that kept alive the Cavs’ hopes of advancing in the tournament via a wildcard berth.
Jarrett Allen scored 26 points and pulled down 13 rebounds while Max Strus made five threes on the way to 20 points for Cleveland, who came through despite again playing without the injured Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert.
Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid scored 32 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Tyrese Maxey added 30 points for Philadelphia, but the Sixers were eliminated from tournament contention. AFP
