Pascal Siakam had already given Indiana almost everything a scorer could reasonably provide before halftime. He scored 26 points on 8-for-9 shooting, made 5 of 6 three-pointers and converted 5 of 6 free throws. The Pacers carried a 66-56 lead into the break, and Dallas had a problem that could not be solved by simply waiting for one cold stretch to end.
Dallas won 125-122 at American Airlines Center, and it took two high-scoring quarters to do it. The Mavericks scored 34 in the third and were still three points behind. They added 35 in the fourth. Siakam’s best stretch had given the Pacers enough room to keep the game close even when he stopped scoring so easily.
Indiana’s lead was built around more than Siakam’s jumper. He scored only three points after halftime, yet his influence remained in the possession-to-possession work. He finished with 29 points, nine rebounds and eight assists without a turnover. That last number mattered because Indiana did not have to trade away possessions while its leading scorer stopped producing points at the same pace.
The Pacers finished with 35 assists on 43 made field goals. Andrew Nembhard supplied 12 assists and 12 points, giving Indiana another player capable of organizing the offense when Dallas began pressing the game toward its own stars. Nembhard’s creation helped keep the Pacers from treating Siakam’s quieter second half as an emergency.
Kelly Oubre Jr. scored 14, while Obi Toppin and Quenton Jackson added 10 apiece off the bench.
Three second-half moments show how Indiana kept answering. Siakam assisted Oubre on a basket with 9:00 left in the fourth quarter, found Toppin for a layup at 3:18 and then set up Aaron Nesmith for a three-pointer with 20.6 seconds remaining.
Those were not substitutes for his first-half scoring; they were the passes that allowed Indiana to keep producing while Dallas tried to protect a lead.
Irving put Dallas ahead in the fourth with a three and later made three free throws to give the Mavericks a four-point lead. Flagg scored 43 and Irving had 35. That is a lot of scoring to ask of two players, even on an evening when the other team’s leading scorer went quiet for long stretches.
The Mavericks needed that kind of output because Indiana had already established the scoring terms. Both teams made 43 field goals. Dallas made four more free throws, 25 to 21, while Indiana made one more three-pointer, 15 to 14. That was enough to produce a three-point game, but it left Dallas with very little room for a quiet stretch from either Flagg or Irving.
