Game Rewind: Pacers 109, Mavericks 94

The Pacers continued their recent stretch of strong play on Friday night in Dallas. Indiana (21-23) used a balanced effort to handle an undermanned Mavericks (23-20) team, 109-94.

It was the fourth win in the last five games for the Pacers, who have been sharing the wealth offensively during their recent hot streak. The Blue & Gold made 20 3-pointers and six players in scored in double figures in Friday's victory.

Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis shared high-scoring honors with 22 points each. Brogdon went 6-for-9 from 3-point range, while Sabonis tallied 15 rebounds and five assists.

"They play so hard for each other all the time, but you see it growing more and more, the way that they're sharing the basketball," Pacers head coach Nate Bjorkgren said after the win. "26 assists again tonight. They're all making the right play on that. They know that there could be seven, eight, nine guys on this team that are capable of scoring double-digit points...It's fun to be a part of."

With All-Star guard Luka Doncic sidelined by lower back tightness, Kristaps Porzingis picked up the offensive slack early for the Mavericks, scoring 13 of Dallas' first 17 points.

The Pacers' offense was more balanced but just as good in the first quarter, as Indiana made six 3-pointers in the opening frame and Goga Bitadze's buzzer-beating hook shot gave the visitors a 31-29 lead after one.

The 3-point barrage continued in the second quarter. Indiana hit six more threes over the first five minutes of the period — three by Doug McDermott, two by Myles Turner, and one by Edmond Sumner — as the Blue & Gold reeled off a 20-9 run to extend their lead to 13 points.

The Pacers' defense put the clamps on the Mavericks for much of the second quarter, holding Dallas without a field goal for over four minutes of game time midway through the frame. The guests led by as many as 15 and took a 61-48 lead into halftime.

Indiana led 69-52 following Justin Holiday's 3-pointer with 9:43 remaining in the third quarter before Porzingis led a charge by the hometown team, scoring nine points during a 12-3 Mavericks run.

Sabonis scored eight points in the third quarter to help the Pacers maintain the lead, but Indiana lost McDermott late in the frame to a sprained right ankle. Dallas managed to trim the Pacers' lead to 82-75 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks got within four twice in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter. A T.J. McConnell floater and Caris LeVert 3-pointer helped pushed Indiana's lead back to 89-80 with 9:30 remaining.

Dorian Finney-Smith's with 7:24 left broke a nearly three-minute scoring drought for the Mavericks, but the Pacers reeled off nine unanswered points to put the game on ice, as Dallas never threatened again.

McDermott had 12 points on 4-of-6 3-point shooting before exiting, while Sumner, LeVert, and McConnell all tallied 10 points.

Dallas native Turner did not score in double figures but still had a significant impact on both ends of the floor, tallying nine points, seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Most importantly, Turner added seven blocks to his league-leading total, protecting the rim all night.

"For me, it's not necessarily about the blocks," Turner said. "It's just the impact, the presence I have out there. The blocking shots is what shows up on the stat sheet, but my ability to switch out on guards, patrol the paint, and have my impact felt, that's really all that matters to me."

Porzingis scored a game-high 31 points on 12-of-28 shooting and pulled down 18 rebounds in the loss. Tim Hardaway Jr. added 16 points and five rebounds off the bench for Dallas.

The Pacers will visit Washington on Monday before returning to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to host Miami and Charlotte later next week.

Sabonis recorded his team-leading 33rd double-double of the season in the victory.

After matching his season high with 18 points on Wednesday, Sumner scored in double figures for the second straight game and fourth time this season. All 10 of his points on Friday came in the first half.

Turner has now blocked a shot in 59 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NBA. He has now had three games this season with three or more blocks. According to StatMuse, there have been just three times all season where anyone other than Turner has blocked seven shots.

The Mavericks entered Friday's game averaging 13.7 3-pointers per game, but the Pacers limited Dallas to just 8-of-35 shooting (22.9 percent) from beyond the arc.

Indiana outscored Dallas 17-4 in fastbreak points.

"I thought it was a gritty effort there, a grind-out win...I liked the way that we hunted the ball down there in the second half. It was a good team win. They're sharing it, playing hard for each other." -Bjorkgren

"We've been clicking more on the court. We've been getting stops. Even though Dallas made a run, we dug deep and kept fighting in the fourth quarter and got a win." -Sabonis

"He had some rundown blocks, in-pursuit blocks where you think we might be giving up something at the rim and he flew out of nowhere there a few times and got his hand on it." -Bjorkgren on Turner's seven blocks

"I think that's what people don't talk about with our team is Myles and his impact. His impact is astronomical. People don't talk about it. He's the reason our defense is so good. His ability to block shots deters people from driving to the rim. He's the Defensive Player of the Year. I'm definitely going to start pushing that." -Brogdon on Turner

"It just shows that we have a lot of weapons. It shows that we're sharing the ball, everyone's having fun. We just have more pace to us. Caris is being more aggressive, he's being himself, he's learning the plays. Everyone's just clicking." -Sabonis on Indiana's balanced offensive attack

The Pacers went 20-for-47 from 3-point range on Friday, matching the franchise record for 3-pointers made in a single game. Indiana has made 20 threes in three different games this season, first accomplishing the feat on Feb. 5 against New Orleans and matching it last Friday in Miami.

The Pacers have two days off before traveling to Washington to take on Bradley Beal and the Wizards on Monday, March 29 at 7:00 PM ET.

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