Scheduled
Cleveland Cavaliers at Philadelphia 76ers
2026-27 · Regular season
Indiana Pacers beat New Orleans Pelicans 123-120: Tyrese Haliburton scores 13 of his 23 in the fourth in his return, Pascal Siakam adds 30
Tyrese Haliburton had 23 points and 12 assists in his first game in 486 days, scoring 13 in the fourth quarter, and Pascal Siakam scored 30 as the Pacers rallied past the Pelicans 123-120.
In this article
Tyrese Haliburton scored 13 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter of his first game in 486 days, and Pascal Siakam scored 30 as the Indiana Pacers rallied past the New Orleans Pelicans 123-120 at Smoothie King Center on Wednesday, October 21. Haliburton also handed out 12 assists in his return from the torn Achilles he suffered in Game 7 of the 2025 Finals.
Indiana trailed by 10 at halftime and by six going into the fourth, then outscored New Orleans 37-28 in the final quarter. Haliburton scored three and-ones in the period, and Siakam added 12 fourth-quarter points, including four baskets in an 88-second span late in the game. Zion Williamson scored 22 for the Pelicans but missed a layup and a tying three in the last 34 seconds.
Video: NBA / X.
How it turned
Haliburton was sharp from the start. He hit a 25-foot three and a running layup in the first five minutes, assisted on an Obi Toppin three that gave Indiana a 23-14 lead, and finished the first quarter with 7 points as the Pacers led 38-31. New Orleans took over the second. Trey Murphy III hit a three, Williamson made two in the final minute, and his 25-footer with 1.4 seconds left gave the Pelicans a 66-56 halftime lead after a 35-18 quarter.
Indiana chipped away in the third behind Toppin, who scored 7 in the period, but Murphy’s three made it 84-76 and New Orleans led 92-86 after three. Haliburton then took over. His driving dunk and free throw, two more free throws and another three-point play cut the deficit to 101-98 with 7:41 left. He was called for a technical foul a half-minute later, but the Pacers tied it at 104 and went ahead on an Andrew Nembhard driving layup and two Nembhard free throws.
The final four minutes went back and forth. Siakam scored on an 8-footer from Haliburton, a 14-foot pull-up and a 10-foot floater, and his layup off another Haliburton pass made it 116-113 with 2:32 left. Williamson answered with a three-point play to tie it at 116. Haliburton’s floater put Indiana back ahead, Yves Missi tied it again with a putback dunk, and Haliburton’s driving floater and free throw made it 121-118 with 1:23 left.
Missi dunked again to make it 121-120, and after Dejounte Murray blocked Ivica Zubac, Quenton Jackson grabbed the offensive rebound and made two free throws with 45.7 seconds left. Williamson missed a driving layup, Nembhard traveled with 14.2 seconds to go, and New Orleans got two looks at a tying three: Jeremiah Fears missed from 27 feet, and Williamson missed from 26 after grabbing the rebound. Murphy’s heave at the buzzer was off.
The numbers
Haliburton shot 8-of-15 and made all 5 of his free throws in 34 minutes. Siakam went 13-of-23 with 8 rebounds, Toppin scored 20 off the bench on 4-of-9 shooting from three, Nembhard had 18 points and 9 assists, and Zubac added 16 points and 14 rebounds. Indiana shot 52 percent and scored 64 points in the paint to New Orleans’ 48, along with 27 fast-break points to 10.
New Orleans’ side
Murray scored 23 with 7 assists and 3 blocks, and Williamson made all 6 of his free throws. Missi had 13 points, 14 rebounds and 5 assists, Bey scored 13, and Murphy and Bennedict Mathurin had 11 each. Derik Queen added 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. The Pelicans went 34-of-37 at the line and grabbed 15 offensive rebounds, but Fears shot 2-of-10. Indiana played without T.J. McConnell and Aaron Nesmith.
What’s next
The Pacers host the Dallas Mavericks on Friday, October 23 (7 p.m. ET, 2 a.m. Saturday Cairo time). The Pelicans visit the Utah Jazz the same night (9:30 p.m. ET, 4:30 a.m. Saturday Cairo time).
Full box score and play-by-play: Game Center. All-time head-to-head. Before the game: Haliburton on his first real game in 486 days.
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