NEW YORK (AP) — Myles Turner scored 23 points and Tyrese Haliburton added 22 to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 125-111 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday night.
Pascal Siakam added 19 points and T.J. McConnell finished with 16 for Indiana, which shot 61% (50 for 82) in the game, including 48.3% (14 for 29) from 3-point distance.
Aaron Nesmith finished with 13 points and Isaiah Jackson had 12.
“I contribute, I do what I can, but we have a lot of different guys who can contribute and tonight was a total team effort,” Haliburton said. “We just want to keep building on that.”
Jalen Brunson returned to the Knicks’ lineup after missing Thursday’s loss to Dallas due to a sprained right ankle and scored 39 points.
“It was a game-time decision,” Brunson said. “When I feel that I can do the things I do, making sure I can go out there and be who I am for as long as I am out there, when I feel that type of confidence, that is when I know I’m ready to play.”
Alec Burks returned to New York as part of a deal with Bojan Bogdanovic from the Detroit Pistons before Thursday’s trade deadline. Burks, who was with the Knicks from 2020-22, scored 22 points and Bogdanovic scored all 11 of his points in the first half of his New York debut.
Precious Achiuwa scored 15 points and Donte DiVincenzo 14 for the Knicks, who have lost three of four following a season-high nine-game winning streak.
New York is playing without starters Julius Randle and OG Anunoby, and the center tandem of Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein.
“We’re short-handed and we’re going to have to play a lot harder and a lot tougher,” Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I’m disappointed in the result, but I’m not disappointed in our team.”
Neither team was able to extend a lead beyond five points in a tight first half. The Knicks led by a point at 51-50 when the Pacers went on a six-point run to take a lead they never relinquished.
Indiana led 61-58 at the break and extended its lead to nine points at 79-70 on a 3-pointer by Obi Toppin with 4:36 left in the third quarter.
The Knicks closed within six before Haliburton hit a long 3-pointer just before the buzzer that gave the Pacers a 91-82 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Toppin opened the final quarter with a 3-pointer and the Knicks were never able to get within single digits the rest of the way.
“We played with a little more of an edge. Tyrese was being special and I had my imprints on the game,” Turner said. “It was an all-around team win and we asserted ourselves more when it needed to be done.”
Jackson’s three-point play extended Indiana’s lead to a game-high 22 points, 114-92, with 5:40 remaining.
