Buddy Hield scored 26 points for the Indiana Pacers, who rode a dominant fourth quarter to a 128-117 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night in Indianapolis.
Tyrese Haliburton supplied 21 points and 15 rebounds for the Pacers, who didn’t lead in the second or third quarters before outscoring the Nets 40-23 in the fourth quarter. Myles Turner finished with 23 points and eight rebounds, and Bennedict Mathurin had 20 points.
Jalen Smith and Aaron Nesmith each had 10 points for the Pacers, who have won six of seven.
Kevin Durant scored 36 points for the Nets, including 20 in the fourth quarter. He also had nine rebounds and eight assists.
Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons each finished with 20 points as the Nets lost for the fourth time in seven games. Seth Curry had 14 points off the bench while Nic Claxton chipped in with 12 points.
The Nets led 35-23 at the end of the first and held a trio of 12-point leads in the second. The Pacers pulled within 52-49 before Brooklyn ended the quarter on a 13-8 run to go ahead 65-57.
The Pacers pulled within one possession numerous times in the third quarter before the Nets went on an 11-3 run to extend their lead to 94-84 with 51.8 seconds left.
Halliburton scored the final four points of the quarter to start the comeback for Indiana, which opened the fourth on a 20-4 run in which Mathurin scored eight unanswered points, including the 3-pointer that put the hosts ahead for good at 99-96 with 8:53 left.
Durant then built his own 9-2 run and converted a four-point play that pulled the Nets within 110-107 with 5:34 left.
Hield responded with a 3-pointer on the Pacers’ next trip to start a game-ending 18-10 run for Indiana, which led by as many as 12. Durant scored 20 straight points for the Nets before Irving hit a technical free throw for the game’s final point with 44.9 seconds left.
–Field Level Media
