East Notes: Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton, Heat, Bulls, Andre Drummond

Pacers

Point guard Tyrese Haliburton indicated he’s feeling more like himself, even while on a minutes restriction. He did, after all, seal the Pacers’ win over the Rockets on Tuesday with a driving layup.

Haliburton has been working his way back from a hamstring injury. He finished with 18 points and seven assists.

“There’s a little bit of service after the game, but in the game, I feel good after a little while so that’s a positive,” he told reporters. “To be able to start games, finish games and play close to my traditional minutes, I’m just happy to be more healthy.”

• Forward Pascal Siakam scored a team-high 29 points in the win. “The third quarter, we just kind of sat down, get down into the bodies and pressured more,” he said. “That’s how we’ve got to be, that’s how we’ve got to play defense to continue to evolve, which I think is an area that can make us a special team.”

Heat

Guard/forward Jimmy Butler went on an 8-0 run and the Heat walloped the Magic on Tuesday. It was a needed victory, given that Miami had entered the game 2-8 over its last 10 games.

Butler finished with 23 points to lead seven Heat players in double figures. He also recorded eight rebounds, eight assists and three steals. 

“Overall, that’s a quality win against a very good opponent,” coach Erik Spoelstra said.

• Now that the Magic are good again, the NBA’s two Florida teams are viewing things differently these days. “I love the fact that it is becoming a rivalry and that we can rekindle that,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said.

Bulls

The Bulls overcame a 23-point deficit to get one of their biggest wins of the season, in overtime, over the West-contending Timberwolves on Tuesday.

Guard Coby White and wing DeMar DeRozan led the way with 33 points apiece. There’s a reason the Bulls reportedly are telling teams that White is off-limits in trade talks.

“We started to make shots and the crowd starts to get into it, get behind and we changed the momentum of the game,” White said. “But it’s not a fun way to live: digging yourselves in a hole. We’ve got to figure out a way to at least not make the first half and the second half look so drastically different.”

• Center Andre Drummond is drawing trade interest from multiple teams, with the 76ers among them, per Marc Stein of The Stein Line. Makes sense, as Philadelphia just lost Joel Embiid for at least a month after knee surgery.