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 yesterday despite Luka Doncic’s fourth straight game with a 30-point triple-double.
Doncic had 39 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Russell Westbrook is the only player in NBA history to have five consecutive 30-point triple-doubles, and Oscar Robertson is the only other player to have four. Doncic shot 15-of-30 from the floor, including four-for-13 from behind the arc.
Nine players scored in double figures for the Pacers, including five reserves as Indiana’s bench dominated Dallas’ bench 69-32.
Bennedict Mathurin collected 19 points coming 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 against San Antonio, last in the Western Conference.
Kyrie Irving scored 23 for Dallas. PJ 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 February 25, when Turner scored a season-high 33 points.
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 percent from long range (18 of 39), compared to 33.3 percent for the Mavericks (13 of 39), with the reserves hitting 11 of 20 led by Ben Sheppard with four three-pointers. Indiana entered the game leading the NBA in scoring at 123.3 points per game, but ranked ninth in 3s at 13.4 per game. Dallas entered third with 15 three-pointers per game, but the Mavs have the lowest-rated defense in the NBA since the All-Star break.
Indiana built a 74-70 halftime lead by scoring 20 of the first 26 points of the third period to take a 94-76 lead with five and a half minutes remaining in the quarter. The Pacers led by double digits the rest of the way. They outscored the Mavericks 32-18 in the third, limiting Dallas to 26.1 percent shooting, with Doncic hitting two of nine from the floor and missing all four of his three-point attempts.
