Pacers ran away and hid from Mavs, 133-111

INDIANAPOLIS – Living life for a day in the fast lane wasn’t very kind to the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday afternoon.

The Indiana Pacers did everything but bring out the expensive race cars at the nearby Indianapolis Speedway as they drove home a point while racing past the Mavs and dealing them a 133-111 defeat at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The loss snapped the Mavs’ season-high seven-game winning streak and dropped them to 33-24 on the season going into Tuesday’s game in Cleveland.

Indiana’s high-powered offense is unique in that it’ll take an opponent’s breath away and put them into some mitigating circumstances not often seen in today’s NBA. The Pacers run and gun, and then run some more, and that can make some teams feel like they’ve stepped into a pile of quicksand.

Such was the case again and again Sunday as the Pacers shot 55.9 percent from the field and distributed 38 assists in running their record to 33-25.

“On the road we cut it to four and we were in a good seat,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd said. “Defensively, we started to give a little bit better effort.”

The Mavs got better when Kyrie Irving opened the fourth quarter by going on a personal 9-0 run to get Dallas within 104-100 of Indiana. But the charged-up Pacers proceeded to negotiate a 20-4 run and put the game out of reach at 124-104 with 4:14 remaining.

That was fueled by five three-pointers – two by Ben Sheppard and one each from Obi Toppin, Andrew Nembhard and Tyrese Haliburton – as the Pacers’ offense kicked into high gear.

“They’re good,” Kidd said of the Pacers. “With their pace and being able to drive it and put it on the floor, you have four guys out there who can definitely drive it and cause a problem.

“This will be something that we look at. We don’t face this a lot of times, so this is a good test for our defense, and we can be better. Tonight, our offense didn’t capitalize on a lot of opportunities.”

Luka Dončić led the Mavs with 33 points, six rebounds, six assists and two blocks, and Irving contributed 29 points and six boards. Also, Josh Green scored 14 points and Tim Hardaway Jr. added 11 points.

“I thought Kai and Luka got great looks tonight,” Kidd said. “Kai in the fourth gets going, the ball’s got to be in his hands going down the stretch there just to make – especially with Luka out – sure that he’s getting the shot or he’s making the play for someone else.

“We had some turnovers in transition, too, that we normally don’t have. So, we’ve got to be better with the ball, too. We get the stop, then we throw it away on the break and then they come back and make a three or get a layup.”

The Mavs also hampered their own progress by collecting a season-low 15 assists.

“I think we’ve got to look at that and understand we’ve got to move the ball,” Kidd said. “We’ve got to be better with the ball understanding being hunted now.

“When you win seven in a row being on the other side of the 15 (Western Conference teams) that’s hunting, now teams are going to (try to) win every possession.

“For us to be one of the elite teams we have to understand and handle that better.”

Irving wholeheartedly agreed.

“We just got to take care of the basketball and also just be ready to be hunted,” he said. “A lot of teams are coming after us. When you kind of see the press or the media kind of calling us legitimate contenders, I don’t think it’s our time right now to be listening to all that noise.

“We just got to focus on one game at a time and just get ready for what’s ahead of us. A lot of teams are going to be playing their best basketball, and this is that test for us in the season.”

With Dončić firing in 10 points, the game was tied at 32-all after the first quarter. But the Pacers went to another gear and led 67-60 at the half and 100-91 after three quarters.

And with Indiana out-scoring Dallas, 33-20, in the fourth quarter, that was the beginning of the end for the Mavs.

“When they’re playing that high level of pace and they’re making shots and they’re making us scramble and putting us in scramble mode defensively, they took full advantage of it,” Irving said. “You got to give them credit.

“They were prepared for us today and they made adjustments from the beginning of the game to the end of the game.”

Euless Trinity High School product Myles Turner poured in 33 points on 10-of-15 shots to pace the Pacers, and he also added eight rebounds. Turner was wide open near the top of the key on way too many occasions.

In addition, the Pacers had six other players score at least 12 points with Haliburton contributing 17 points and 10 assists.

“Haliburton causes a problem driving,” Kidd said. “He does a great job of finding or dumping off.

“But I thought when you look at Turner and his ability to short-roll — or when someone drives and he kind of finds his way at the top of the key or at the top of the three-point line — he was wide open tonight. So, we have to do better.”

The Mavs are hoping their level of play increases Tuesday in Cleveland.

“Give (the Pacers) them credit,” Kidd said. “They were making shots tonight.

“And on the offensive end we just couldn’t throw it in the ocean. We’ll learn from it. We’ll watch this and we’ll get better tomorrow.”

X: @DwainPrice