INDIANAPOLIS – – Tyrese Haliburton finished with 34 points and 13 assists and made a season-best nine 3-pointers Monday night to lead the Indiana Pacers past the New Orleans Pelicans 114-100.

Haliburton’s tiebreaker 3 with 3:06 left and Bennedict Mathurin’s alley-oop dunk off Haliburton’s pass with a minute left ultimately secured the win.

Myles Turner added 17 points, including seven in a row during a fourth-quarter flurry that swung the momentum back to the Pacers.

Trey Murphy III led the Pelicans with 24 points, matching his season high. CJ McCollum added 23 points in his first action in nearly a month, and Elfrid Payton dished out a career-high 21 assists – the most in an NBA game this season.

The Pelicans have lost five straight, this time with WNBA star Caitlin Clark watching at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, much to the delight of some of the girls dressed in Clark’s Indiana Fever and Iowa jerseys.

Takeaways

Pelicans: With four expected opening day starters out due to injuries (Brandon Ingram, Herbert Jones, Dejounte Murray and Zion Williamson), it’s hard to read much into Monday’s result. McCollum’s return could be a promising sign.

Pacers: Indiana was also less than full strength with Andrew Nembhard (knee) and Aaron Nesmith (ankle) out again. Still, it has used the first two games of a four-game homestand to reach .500 within two games.

Key moment

With the score tied at 104, Haliburton knocked down a 3, followed with a layup and then fed Mathurin for the dunk that brought the crowd to their feet. The Pelicans did not recover from that flurry.

Key stat

Haliburton has scored 73 points in its last three games, its highest score over a three-game span this season. His previous high was 58.

Next

New Orleans returns home to host the Toronto Raptors, while the Pacers host the Portland Trail Balzers on Wednesday night.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba