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The Pacers fought off a late surge from the Knicks to claim a 112-106 victory in Game 4 of their ECF series to take Indiana to a 3-1 series lead in front of a raucous Gainbridge Fieldhouse crowd.
Led by Tyrese Haliburton, who posted a historic 32-point triple-double in the win – 15 assists and 12 rebounds and 0 turnovers.
Haliburton is now the third player, along with Oscar Robertson and Nikola Jokić, to put up a 30-15-10 triple-double in the playoffs. He’s also the first to do that without a turnover.
He also became second player EVER to have 30-plus points and NO turnovers, as well as the first player in history with a triple-double on 0 turnovers in the Conference Finals.
Pascal Siakam added 30 points and Aaron Nesmith chipped in 16.
The huge game from Hali could have been sparked by the fact that his dad John, was allowed back in the building, following a ban after an altercation with Giannis earlier in the series.
“Hell yeah. Glad to have pops in the building. It makes it that much sweeter,” Haliburton said in his on-field interview.
He later added, “Obviously, my dad being here is special. But I mean, growing up, like, my dad was reffing for a lot of the weekend, so he didn’t get to come to many of my games growing up, so when he would come to any of them, I wanted to play well. So, with him being in the building, of course I wanted to play well.
“I know we’re saying, “Free Pops,” and “Pops is free!” But he was not in jail,” he added, jokingly. “He was in a very beautiful home, sitting very pretty watching NBA basketball. He’s just fine. Yeah, I was happy he was in the building.”
As for New York, the largest lead they had all night was two points and were playing catch up most of the night anyway.
The Pacers with all the momentum, the series shifts back to Madison Square Garden for a pivotal Game 5.
“I’ve never known this team to quit,” Josh Hart said. “That’s not the character of the guys we have in the locker room.”
