The Indiana Pacers held off a furious fourth-quarter surge by Brooklyn on Saturday, hanging on for a 108-103 victory that pushed their NBA winning streak to four games.
Tyrese Haliburton, who missed the Pacers’ last three games with a sore back, did not miss a beat in his return, posting his 10th straight points and assists double-double with 16 points and 12 assists.
Pascal Siakam scored 26 points and Myles Turner chipped in 22 for Indiana — despite concern over his sister, Mya, who had a medical issue and had to leave the arena.
Trendon Watford scored 26 points off the bench to lead the Nets, who trailed by 20 through three quarters but cut the deficit to one with 4:30 left to play.
The Pacers pushed the lead back to nine points only for the Nets to close within two before the Pacers closed it out at the free-throw line to maintain their grip on fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
They started the day a game in front of the Milwaukee Bucks, who faced the Kings in Sacramento later Saturday.
“There’s no gimmicks or shortcuts, to close out an NBA Game,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “We saw some things at the end that were a bit zany, and we’ve got to learn from those things and be very thankful that we got out of here with a win.”
In another early game, the Atlanta Hawks used a balanced attack to beat the short-handed Golden State Warriors 124-115.
Trae Young scored 25 points and handed out 10 assists and Onyeka Okongwu added 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Hawks, who have won six of their last eight as they jockey for play-in tournament position.
The Warriors, clinging to sixth place in the West and trying to avoid the play-in, were without superstar guard Stephen Curry, who suffered a bruised pelvis in a hard fall on Thursday.
Jimmy Butler scored 25 points and Moses Moody added 20, but the Warriors trailed virtually all the way.
The Hawks out-scored the Warriors 60-44 in the paint and held a 46-38 advantage in rebounds. They led by 12 at halftime and repelled every Warriors charge in the second half, leading by as many as 22 in the fourth quarter.
“We just fought like we were supposed to the whole game and never gave up no matter what the score was,” Young said.
