Turner, Mathurin spur Pacers’ rally to beat Bulls 116-110

INDIANAPOLIS(AP) — Bennedict Mathurin looked at the Indiana Pacers’ 21-pointfirst-half deficit and saw an opportunity.

He kepturging his teammates to play hard, to follow the game plan andinsisted they eventually could come back. Again. Then the20-year-old rookie made sure of it.

Mathurin andMyles Turner each scored 26 points andMathurin broke free forthe decisive basketwith 29.1 seconds left to give the Pacersa 116-110 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night.

“He was themost animated I’ve seen him in the huddles all season,” coach RickCarlisle said. “He was being encouraging, saying ‘We can do this,we can do this.’ He just brings an indomitable will to compete, toget the ball in the basket and to outwork you.”

Indianasnapped a season-worst seven-game losing streak by rallying from adouble-digit deficit to win for the 11th time this season — two ofthose after trailing by 20 points or more — and barely stayed aheadof 10th-place Chicago in the Eastern Conference. The Pacers playedagain without injured point guard Tyrese Haliburton and this timewithout his replacement, Andrew Nembhard, who was sick.

T.J.McConnell had 20 points and 10 assists for the Pacers. But withoutTurner’s big third quarter and Mathurin playing the role of closer,Indiana wouldn’t have completed the rally.

“A lot ofrookies are hitting a wall and losing steam at this point,”Carlisle said. “He’s actually gaining momentum and that’s the mostimpressive thing about him.”

Mathurincertainly caused headaches for the Bulls, who had a three-gamewinning streak end. DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points to lead Chicagoand Nikola Vucevic added 20 points, eight rebounds and five assistsas his streak of 11 consecutive double-doubles also ended.

While thegame was physical and sometimes ugly, the Bulls seized control byquickly building a 20-5 lead and extending the margin to 62-41 latein the first half.

But on thesecond night of a back-to-back, the Bulls wore down in the secondhalf as the Pacers became the aggressors.

“We talkabout this at halftime and what we’re getting ready to see happenand what we have to do,” Chicago coach Billy Donovan said before hestarted gesturing with his hands. “Their intensity was here andours was maybe the same as in the first half, but theirs wasbetter.”

WithMcConnell, Turner and Mathurinleading the charge, the Pacersfinally responded.

They cut thedeficit to 87-80 after three quarters and continued rallying in thefourth, finally taking their first lead of the game, 102-100, onMcConnell’s reverse layup with 4:27 to go.

The teamstraded leads four times after that and were tied three times —until Mathurin’s layup gave Indiana a 112-110 lead. The Pacersforced turnovers on each of the Bulls’ next two possessions andmade four straight free throws to seal it.

TIP-INS

Bulls: ZachLaVine had 14 points and Derrick Jones Jr. had 10. ... DeRozanfinished with five rebounds and three assists. ... Chicago had 16turnovers, compared with six for Indiana. ... The Bulls had won theprevious four games in this series.

Pacers: BuddyHield had 19 points, five rebounds, four assists, four steals andfour 3-pointers. ... Turner had eight rebounds while McConnell hadthree steals. ... Indiana was 10 of 37 on 3s. ... Haliburton couldreturn as early as Friday from the sprained left knee and sprainedleft elbow that contributed to the Pacers’ skid that kept him outof the Indiana’s previous six games.

MR.3,000

Following afour-game trip, the Pacers honored longtime radio play-by-playannouncer Mark Boyle for calling his 3,000th game Saturday atPhoenix.

HESAID IT

“T.J.McConnell plays with an annoying persistencethat everyonewishes they had on their team,” Carlisle said.