Haliburton stars as Pacers exact revenge on Celtics


At a glance

  • BOSTON (AP) — Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points and the Indiana Pacers rebounded from a 37-point loss to Boston two nights earlier by beating the Celtics, 123-114, on Sunday night, Dec. 29, in the rematch.


BOSTON (AP) — Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points and the Indiana Pacers rebounded from a 37-point loss to Boston two nights earlier by beating the Celtics, 123-114, on Sunday night, Dec. 29, in the rematch.

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Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, left, grapples for control of the ball with Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, right, as guard Jaylen Brown, behind, defends in the second half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 29, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Andrew Nembhard, who returned after missing Friday’s game with tendinitis in his left knee, added 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists for the Pacers. Pascal Siakam chipped in with 17 points and Bennedict Mathurin had 14.

Jaylen Brown led Boston with 31 points and six assists. Jayson Tatum had 22 points, nine boards and six assists. Payton Pritchard added 21 points and Derrick White scored 17.

The Celtics lost their sixth game at home already this season. Last season, they went 37-4 at TD Garden during the regular season and 9-2 in the playoffs en route to the NBA championship.

Meanwhile in Minneapolis, Donte DiVincenzo scored 26 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the San Antonio Spurs, 112-110.

Rudy Gobert had 17 points and 15 rebounds for the Timberwolves, won won their third straight. Julius Randle had 16 points, while Jaden McDaniels added 12 points and 10 boards for Minnesota.

Anthony Edwards, who earlier in the day was fined $100,000 for continued use of profanity in postgame media comments, was held to 14 points, 11 below his season average.

After DiVincenzo made one of two free throws with 12.1 seconds left, the Spurs had one more possession down 112-110. San Antonio found a wide-open Jeremy Sochan for 3, but he came up short.

Wembanyama led San Antonio with 34 points and eight rebounds. Harrison Barnes had 24 points, Devin Vassell had 22 and Chris Paul dished out 14 assists.

In Oklahoma City, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points and the Thunder won their 11th straight game, beating the short-handed Memphis Grizzlies, 130-106, in a matchup of Western Conference leaders that turned lopsided before halftime.

Rookie Ajay Mitchell scored 17 points, Aaron Wiggins contributed 16 and Jalen Williams added 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Thunder (26-5), who opened a five-game lead over second-place Memphis.

Earlier in Toronto, Trae Young had 34 points and 10 assists, De’Andre Hunter scored 22 points and the Atlanta Hawks routed the Raptors, 136-107, for their fourth straight win.

Clint Capela had 11 points and 13 rebounds as the Hawks opened a six-game trip by handing the reeling Raptors their 10th consecutive loss.

Scottie Barnes scored 19 points and RJ Barrett had 17, but the Raptors fell behind by more than 30 points and allowed more than 130 for the second straight game. Toronto gave up a franchise-worst 155 points in Thursday’s loss at Memphis.