Game Rewind: Pacers 133, Suns 131

Friday, Jan. 26 at 7:00 PM ET at Gainbridge Fieldhouse

Even without All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers keep finding a way to win. Suns guard Devin Booker dropped 29 points in the first quarter on Friday night and broke Jermaine O'Neal's Gainbridge Fieldhouse scoring record with 62 points, but the Pacers got the last laugh.

Obi Toppin's putback basket with 3.4 seconds remaining lifted Indiana (26-20) to a 133-131 victory, as Indiana rallied from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter to stun Booker and the Suns (26-19).

Four Pacers topped 20 points in the win, with Pascal Siakam leading the way with 31 points on 14-of-22 shooting, seven rebounds, and four assists. Toppin added 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting and 11 rebounds off the bench, Andrew Nembhard had several key baskets down the stretch and finished with 22 points and eight assists, and Aaron Nesmith added 22 points, seven boards, three assists, and two blocks.

That was just enough to spoil a sensational night for Booker, who went 22-for-37 from the field, 6-for-12 from 3-point range, and 12-for-13 from the free throw line. Indiana's win snapped a seven-game win streak for Phoenix (26-19).

Despite Booker's prolific outburst, the Pacers remained within striking distance until the final minutes.

Booker's layup with 3:23 remaining got him to 60 points and gave Phoenix a 129-122 lead. Nesmith drew a foul at the other end and made both free throws and then Toppin converted one of two shots from the charity stripe to make it a four-point game with 2:35 to play.

Booker missed a three at the shot clock buzzer on the other end, then Nembhard drove and converted a runner to pull the Pacers within two.

The next trip down the floor, Suns guard Grayson Allen drove from the left wing, but Nesmith slid over and took a charge. Suns head coach Frank Vogel challenged the call, but it was unsuccessful.

After the stoppage, Nembhard drove on Allen and converted a stepback jumper to tie the game with 1:23 remaining.

Booker answered, converting a jumper from the left baseline with 56.4 seconds remaining. Nembhard once again attacked the rim, converting another game-tying bucket with 47.9 seconds to play.

"He's built up a lot of trust and equity with his teammates and with the coaching staff over the last year and a half," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of Nembhard's play late in the game. "He's tough, he's unafraid of the moment, he competes. He's come through a number of times."

Kevin Durant missed a three with 29.1 seconds to play, giving the Pacers a chance to take the lead. Bennedict Mathurin wound up driving from the left wing. Two Suns met him at the rim and he missed. Siakam was there and attempted to put it up and in, but his shot also rimmed out.

But the ball fell on the baseline and into the hands of Toppin, who banked in the go-ahead basket with just 3.4 ticks left.

"The ball just bounced right in front of me," Toppin said. "I just grabbed it and put it in."

Phoenix called a timeout to advance the ball. Allen inbounded to Booker, who slipped when catching the ball. He regained his footing, but Nesmith was right there to contest the shot, which didn't get to the rim.

"I've been around this a long time," Carlisle said after the win. "I've seen a lot of guys have some huge nights...In the fourth quarter, our guys just decided that we were going to make one additional effort on each defensive play and find a way to hang in and give ourselves a chance. And we did."

The Pacers scored on their first four possessions on Friday to jump out to an early 8-2 lead, but the remainder of the opening quarter belonged to Booker, who was hotter than his team's nickname.

Booker's first points came on a pair of free throws with 9:36 remaining in the opening quarter and over the ensuing 8:36, he scored 29 of Phoenix's 33 points.

Back-to-back threes at 8:44 and 8:31 gave the visitors a 15-10 lead and forced a timeout from Carlisle. But Booker scored again on another three and mid-range shot on Phoenix's first two possessions after the break. The Pacers threw a variety of defenders at him, but nothing could slow down Booker.

His fourth three at the one-minute mark capped a remarkable stretch and matched Indiana's point total at the time with 29 points. Booker went 10-for-14 from the field, 4-for-6 from 3-point range, and 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the opening quarter.

Indiana doubled him on the Suns' last possession of the frame, but he swung the ball resulting in an open look for Drew Eubanks for a buzzer-beating layup that gave the visitors a 40-31 lead after one.

Siakam scored nine points, while Nesmith and Nembhard added seven points apiece for the Blue & Gold in the opening frame.

Booker added two more free throws at the 10:54 mark of the second quarter before being subbed out for the first time. But even with him on the bench, the Suns added to their lead, opening the quarter with a 14-6 run to stretch the margin to 17.

The Pacers mounted a charge shortly thereafter by getting out in transition and allowing Toppin to do what he does best. Toppin scored 10 straight Indiana points in a 1:24 stretch, with nearly all of them coming in transition. He showed why he is a former Slam Dunk Contest winner at the 6:20 mark, when he threw down a between-the-legs slam on a breakaway that electrified the crowd.

"If I would have missed that that would have been bad," Toppin joked after the win. "I'm just glad I made it."

Toppin's flurry cut Phoenix's lead to 62-52 with 5:34 remaining in the half. Indiana got within seven following two Toppin free throws at 4:09, but Booker checked back in and scored six more points over the final minutes to make it an 10-point game at the intermission at 80-70.

The Pacers quickly cut into that deficit after the break. Siakam scored eight points in the first three minutes of the second half, with his jumper at 9:05 in the third quarter trimming Phoenix's lead to 91-87.

On the very next possession, Booker drove left against Nesmith. Just outside the paint, Booker swung his right elbow into Nesmith's groin, then used the advantage to rise up for another two points. Carlisle was furious at the missed call and was assessed a technical for sharing his displeasure with the refs during the timeout.

Nesmith said Booker apologized for the play, but Pacers fans weren't in a forgiving mood. They booed Booker heartily for the rest of the game and Nesmith maintained that moment was a catalyst for Indiana's comeback.

"Ever since that play, the below-the-belt play, the crowd got into it," he said. "We got into it. We started playing with more of a chip on our shoulder. We started playing more aggressive, more physical. Honestly, I think it helped us win the basketball game."

The Pacers kept the score close for most of the frame, twice getting within three, the latter occasion on Siakam's layup that made it 105-102 with 1:02 remaining in the frame.

But Booker responded by driving to the rim for a layup that got him to 50 points on the night. He drew a foul and hit both free throws the next time down the floor, then Eubanks putback a Booker miss just before the buzzer to push the Suns' lead back to 114-105 entering the fourth quarter.

Durant's jumper 20 seconds into the final frame made it an 11-point game, but the Pacers once again clawed back.

Indiana had the deficit down to 123-118 with Siakam headed to the foul line with 4:57 to play. The new Pacers forward missed both, but Mathurin came up with the rebound and drifted out to the right wing, where he took an open three. That, too, didn't fall.

23 seconds later, Booker leaked out and threw down a reverse jam on a breakaway that gave him 56 and broke O'Neal's record for most points in the building, a mark that had stood since Jan. 4, 2005.

After a timeout, Siakam and Booker traded baskets for four straight possessions before the Pacers made their final charge.

After the win, Siakam was sure to shout out the fans during his in-arena interview with Pacers radio broadcaster Pat Boylan. The fanbase has given him a hero's welcome since joining the team last week in a blockbuster trade with Toronto and he has now helped deliver them two monumental wins on consecutive nights, after recording a triple-double in Thursday's 134-122 victory over Philadelphia.

"It's been dope," Siakam said of the atmosphere in Gainbridge Fieldhouse. "I can tell they're just basketball fans, like real basketball fans. I think for me, I enjoy that. You can tell they understand the game and get in the game and the moments where it's needed. It's awesome. Just the love it's been incredible."

Jalen Smith recorded a double-double off the bench for Indiana, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Fellow reserve Bennedict Mathurin added 11 points and five boards.

Durant finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, and six assists for Phoenix. Eric Gordon added 14 points off the bench, Bradley Beal scored 12, and Allen tallied 11.

The Pacers are now 2-1 on their four-game homestand, which concludes on Sunday afternoon against Memphis.

Siakam's 31 points were his most in five games as a Pacer. He topped 30 points in eight games earlier this season while with Toronto.

Toppin's double-double was his first in his 45 games with the Blue & Gold. His 23 points were his most since he scored 25 on Nov. 30 in Miami.

Nembhard set a new season high with 22 points, going 10-for-16 from the field.

The Pacers dominated the Suns on the interior, scoring a season-high 84 points in the paint and outscoring Phoenix by 26 points in that area.

Indiana's bench outscored Phoenix's reserves, 51-24. The Pacers lead the league in bench scoring (48.8 points per game) and are 25-13 on the season when outscoring their opponent in that category.

Booker's 62 points were a season high and his second most of his career, second only to his 70-point performance on March 24, 2017 at Boston. His 62 points were the second-most ever against Indiana, trailing only Giannis Antetokounmpo's 64 points in Milwaukee earlier this season on Dec. 13.

Booker's 29 points in the first quarter were the most by a Pacers opponent in a single frame in franchise history, besting Antetokounmpo's 26 points in the fourth quarter of his 64-point game. They also matched Joel Embiid's in the third quarter on Nov. 6 against Washington for the most points by a player in a quarter in the NBA this season.

In a true statistical oddity, Booker entered the night having made a career-high six 3-pointers in a game 23 times, but never getting to seven. Booker made his sixth three on Friday with 5:08 remaining in the third quarter, but missed his final four attempts from beyond the arc, including the potential game-winner at the buzzer.

Either Booker or Durant has scored 40 or more points in five straight games for Phoenix. Booker started the streak with 52 a week ago in New Orleans. Durant followed with 40 against the Pacers on Sunday in Phoenix and 43 on Monday against Chicago. Booker then scored 46 on Wednesday in Dallas.

Mavericks guard Luka Doncic scored 73 points on Friday in a win in Atlanta, making Friday the second time this week that two NBA players scored 60 or more points on the same day. On Monday, Embiid scored 70 in Philadelphia's win over San Antonio, while Timberwolves forward Karl-Anthony Towns dropped 62 in a loss to Charlotte. Prior to Monday, the last time two players went for 60-plus on the same day was on April 9, 1978, when George Gervin scored 63 and David Thompson scored 73 as the two future Hall of Famers competed for the scoring title on the last day of the season.

"A thing that I think everybody likes about our team right now is that there is becoming more and more of a defiant competitiveness with the group. These last three games are inexplicably hard, tonight's especially since (it was) a back-to-back, they're rested, going against those guys and Booker obviously had a special game. The way our guys hung in, the way everybody supported each other was huge. Really happy for our guys and our fans. The last minute and a half or two minutes, it was bedlam in there." -Carlisle on the Pacers' resiliency and the crowd

"That last fourth quarter, we decided to hit and send another defender to get the ball out of his hand and just scramble out of that. The whole fourth quarter we did it and they didn't like it at all...It was just junking up their offense. We know who they wanted to go to and who had the hot hand. We just had to make sure to get the ball out of his hand." -Toppin on the defensive effort on Booker late in the game

"The guys just kept fighting. We know how tough the other team was, but I just liked our mentality. It was like, no matter what's happening, just keep playing our pace and our basketball...We know that any given night we can hang with any team out there." -Siakam on the Pacers' resolve

"He had already gotten it going. When a player of that caliber gets going like that, it's extremely hard to stop. So I just tried my best to be as physical as I could be without fouling, make him work for everything, tire him out. But he made tough shots, time after time. He played phenomenal basketball." -Nesmith on guarding Booker

"I thought we just attacked whatever we felt was an advantage and he had that. He made tough moves at the basket and he can do that. I thought it was good just to recognize those mismatches and attack that. I think that's the luxury of this team. You can have multiple guys that can make plays." -Siakam on Nembhard leading the offense in crunch time

"Obi Toppin tonight was just tremendous. Unusual situation tonight where you've got to play smaller because of the geometrics of the game. They put the "death lineup" out there. It's just very, very difficult. He made plays on both ends of the floor and he hit the game-winning shot. That's monumental stuff." -Carlisle on Toppin

"I always come in and try to get the team energy. I feel like that's been my job the past four years. I go out there, try to bring the crowd into the game. Obviously that between-the-legs dunk was for the crowd to get hype. Having the crowd in there is helpful for us because we feed off of that." -Toppin on bringing energy off the bench

"Pascal Siakam is a great fit with our team, our organization, our city. He just oozes Pacer nation, along with really fitting in with the pieces that we have on the team. At this point, he realizes that we need more from him right now with Tyrese still being out. Boy, he raised it to a seismic level tonight and we needed every bit of it." -Carlisle on Siakam

After surrendering 40, 40, and 34 points over the first three quarters, the Pacers locked down defensively in the fourth. Indiana outscored Phoenix 28-17 in the final frame and limited the Suns to 8-of-26 shooting (30.8 percent).

The Pacers wrap up a four-game homestand by welcoming Jaren Jackson Jr. and the Memphis Grizzlies to Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 3:30 PM ET. Find Tickets >>