East Notes: Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton, Sixers, Nets

Pacers

• Point guard Tyrese Haliburton finished with 33 points, 15 assists, and zero turnovers in an In-Season Tournament road win over the 76ers, making him just the fifth player in NBA history to accomplish the feat.
• Per Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, Haliburton joined John Stockton (33/15/0 in 1989), Chris Paul (32/15/0 in 2009), LeBron James (35/17/0 in 2018) and James Harden (30/15/0 in 2021).
• Also, Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files reported Haliburton’s combined stats in the last two games vs. the Sixers: 58 points, 32 assists and zero turnovers in 75 minutes.
• Meanwhile, Tony East of SI.com wrote, “Huge win for the Pacers on the road, and they are on top of their In-Season Tournament group. Best win of the season. 33 and 15 for Haliburton. 27 for (Obi Toppin) in his best game of the season. Pacers are 7-4.”

76ers

The home loss to Indiana snapped an eight-game win streak for the 76ers, who were out of sorts most of the night, opined Kyle Neubeck of PHLY_Sports.

“A huge portion of the problem was the pace of play,” Neubeck wrote. “There were quite a few possessions where (Joel Embiid) got down the floor and in position to catch a pass, only for his teammates to dawdle on the entry, giving the Pacers an opportunity to set up their help. When Embiid is being guarded by Aaron Nesmith one-on-one by the paint, you should basically be able to throw it anywhere and have it turn into two points or free throws. But when you wait eight seconds to consider throwing the pass, that window shrinks, and an off-ball double becomes increasingly likely.”

• Along with all that, the Sixers really need to get some help when it comes to a reserve who can set up the office, Neubeck wrote.

Nets

• Guard Spencer Dinwiddie helped the injured-riddled Nets blast the Magic in an In-Season Tournament game, scoring 29 points to lead six Brooklyn players in double figures.
• Forward Cam Johnson also shook off some early struggles after returning from a back injury, scoring 20 points.
• In case you missed it, Ben Simmons has another back issue and will miss more time, as our Brandon Santomauro relayed here.