Balanced performance by Pacers too much for Doncic, Mavericks

DALLAS (AP) — Myles Turner scored all 20 of his points in the first half, Tyrese Haliburton had 19 points and 11 assists, and the Indiana Pacers beat the Dallas Mavericks 137-120 on Tuesday night despite Luka Doncic’s fourth consecutive game with a 30-point triple-double.

Doncic had 39 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Russell Westbrook is the lone player in NBA history with five straight 30-point triple-doubles, and Oscar Robertson is the only other player with four. Doncic shot 15 of 30 from the floor, including 4 for 13 behind the arc.

Nine players scored in double figures for the Pacers, including five reserves as Indiana’s bench outscored Dallas’ 69-32.

“Our depth is something that’s been helping us the entire season,” Turner said. “Anybody can go off for 20 points on any given night. That’s such a luxury.”

Bennedict Mathurin had 19 points off the bench for the Pacers. Starting forward Pascal Siakam added 13 points, 13 rebounds and six assists as Indiana bounced back from two straight losses, most recently to San Antonio, which is last in the Western Conference.

“We were due to play better,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “Last couple games have been tough, but the team made some very good adjustments for this game, and we were able to play faster and more aggressively and move the ball better.”

Kyrie Irving scored 23 for Dallas. P.J. Washington had 20 points, and Daniel Gafford added 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The Mavericks lost for the fifth time in six games following a season-best seven-game winning streak. Their skid began with a 133-111 loss at Indiana on Feb. 25, when Turner scored a season-high 33 points.

“This is actually a great test for us to be able to go through a hard time in March because it only gets harder in April and May," coach Jason Kidd said.

Dallas (34-28) is in eighth place in the West. The Pacers (35-28) are eighth in the Eastern Conference, one game behind Miami.

The Pacers shot 46.2% from long distance (18 of 39), compared to the Mavericks’ 33.3% (13 of 39), with reserves hitting 11 of 20 led by Ben Sheppard with four 3-pointers. Indiana went into play leading the NBA at 123.3 points per game but ranked ninth in 3s with 13.4 a game. Dallas entered third with 15 3-pointers per game, but the Mavs have the NBA’s worst-rated defense since the All-Star break.

“On the defensive end, we’ve got to do something about it,” Doncic said.

Indiana built on a 74-70 halftime lead by scoring 20 of the first 26 points in the third period to go ahead 94-76 with 5 1/2 minutes left in the quarter. The Pacers led by double digits the rest of the way. They outscored the Mavericks 32-18 in the third, holding Dallas to 26.1% shooting with Doncic going 2 of 9 from the floor and missing his four 3-point attempts.

UP NEXT

Pacers: Will host Minnesota on Thursday.

Mavericks: Will face Miami on Thursday to close a three-game homestand.

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