NBA: Pacers overcome Haliburton’s absence to beat Wizards

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FILE– Myles Turner #33 of the Indiana Pacers. Ethan Miller/Getty Images/AFP

INDIANAPOLIS– Myles Turner had 18 points and 13 rebounds and the Indiana Pacers’ overcame star guard Tyrese Haliburton’s absence to beat the Washington Wizards 112-104 in the NBA on Wednesday night.

Haliburton, the NBA assists leader and Indiana scoring leader, strained his left hamstring Monday night in a 133-131 home victory over Boston. He will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

“When one of your guys goes down the rest of the team has to step up and I think we did a phenomenal job of doing that tonight,” Turner said.

Indiana has won eight of nine, while Washington has dropped six in a row.

Bruce Brown and Bennedict Mathurin each added 16 points for the Pacers. Obi Toppin added 15 points, and Brown also had nine rebounds and six assists.

Jordan Poole led Washington with 28 points. Corey Kispert had 15 points, all in the first half. Deni Avdija also had 15 and Kyle Kuzma had 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards.

7-0 run to start the half after this Myles Turner three 🔥 pic.twitter.com/2ejWKPc1rS

— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) January 11, 2024

Pacers guard T.J. McConnell said Haliburton can’t be easily replaced.

“He gets downhill and finds guys with ease,” said McConnell, who had 14 points and eight assists off the bench. “It has to be more of team effort to move the ball, be hard to guard and work extremely hard on defense.”

Trailing 55-54 at halftime, the Pacers scored the first 10 points of the third quarter to take a 64-55 lead. Indiana, which never trailed after the 10-0 spurt, went on to lead 89-80 after three quarters. Jordan Nwora provided a lift with seven points in the period, finishing with nine points.

“It’s a situation where it’s been tough for Jordan Nwora to get on the floor,” McConnell said. “He’s the consummate professional He stepped in there and played big minutes for us. I’m super happy for him.”

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said the games are going to look different without Haliburton.,

“The third quarter was the difference,” Carlisle said. “We came out of the locker room and Bruce got us going. He never complains. He just finds a way to get the job done.”

Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. agreed the third quarter was the downfall.

“The start of the third quarter we were flat,” Wizards coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “We gave up too many offensive rebounds in that quarter. We just kind of got out of rhythm and they jumped on us to their credit.”

For the game, the Pacers held a 54-45 rebounding edge.

Pacers forward Jalen Smith was a late scratch because of a sore lower back. The Wizards were without Landry Shamet because of personal reasons.

NEXT SCHEDULE

Wizards: At Atlanta on Saturday night.

Pacers: At Atlanta on Friday night to open a six-game trip.