Haliburton shines as the Pacers avenge their loss to the Celtics

Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points as the Pacers turned the tables on the NBA champion Celtics with a commanding 123-114 victory in Boston on Sunday.

Two days after Jaylen Brown scored 44 points to lead the Celtics to a 142-105 victory over the Pacers, Indiana got revenge.

Haliburton contributed six rebounds and seven assists without a turnover, and six players scored in double figures for Indiana, which gave them a seven-point lead in the second quarter that they extended to as many as 16 points.

Brown stayed hot, scoring 31 points on 13 of 21 shooting and six assists. Jayson Tatum scored 22 points with nine rebounds and six assists.

Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard each scored 17 points for Indiana. Nembhard added eight rebounds and eight assists in his return after missing Friday’s game because of tendinitis in his left knee.

Nembhard said it was crucial for Indiana to maintain its pace in the fourth quarter – when Boston cut an 11-point deficit to two with 7:38 to play.

“I think that was the biggest thing we did towards the end of the game,” he said. “We kept the pace in the game. We didn’t slow down and worry too much about the score.”

In Orlando, Cole Anthony scored the game-winning layup as the Magic erased a 21-point deficit to beat the Brooklyn Nets 102-101.

Tristan da Silva scored 21 points to lead the injury-plagued Magic. Goga Bitadze added 19 points and Anthony scored five of his 10 points in the fourth quarter as Orlando finished the game with a 22-4 record.

Cam Thomas, returning after missing 13 games with a hamstring strain, came off the bench and led Brooklyn’s scoring with 25 points, but missed a jump shot as time expired.

Anthony admitted that da Silva, who scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, should have gotten the ball on the play that gave him the win.

When that didn’t work, he said: “Okay, I’ll do a layup!”

The Nets were without veteran Dorian Finney-Smith, who was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday along with Shake Milton and sent D’Angelo Russell to Brooklyn.

Atlanta’s Trae Young posted a double-double of 34 points and 10 assists as the Hawks handed the Toronto Raptors their tenth straight loss, 136-107.

Young made seven of the Hawks’ 18 three-point shots, with his efforts from beyond the arc equaling the Raptors’ total three-point shots.

De’Andre Hunter scored 22 points off the bench for the Hawks, who won their fourth straight and spoiled the season debut of Toronto’s Bruce Brown after he recovered from arthroscopic knee surgery.

Brown came off the bench to score 12 points for the Raptors, who were led by Scottie Barnes with 19 points.

F/Sew