Tyrese Haliburton's winner ices Bucks as Pacers take 2-1 series lead - ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Haliburton struggled to find his shooting touch Friday night.

So he looked for other ways to impact the game — a thunderous slam dunk off a rebound, finding open teammates and patiently waiting for a chance to make a statement. Then in the waning seconds of overtime, Haliburton wanted the ball.

The All-Star guard completed a three-point play with 1.6 seconds left, capping his first postseason triple-double in his first home playoff game to give the Indiana Pacers a 121-118 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Indiana leads the best-of-seven series 2-1, with Game 4 on Sunday in Indianapolis.

«You know I was going to shoot it no matter what,» Haliburton said. «What I was going to get was really based off of feel there. Khris [Middleton] pushed Pascal [Siakam] up to tell Patrick [Beverley] to go under, and as soon as I saw Patrick kind of turn his head, I reacted and everything opened up across the middle and I finally made a shot. I couldn't buy a bucket tonight.»

Haliburton was just 8-of-22 from the field and 1-of-12 on 3-pointers. But he did just about everything else right, finishing with 18 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds as two-time league MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo again sat out for Milwaukee because of a strained left calf.

Myles Turner added 29 points and nine rebounds, both playoff career highs, to help give Indiana its first back-to-back postseason wins since taking three straight in the 2014 Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Pacers also have their first lead in the playoffs since Game 3 of a first-round matchup against Cleveland in 2018. Indiana hasn't won a series since reaching the 2014 East finals.

«It was a really fun game and overtime. What more could you ask for?» Haliburton said. «It