Tyrese Haliburton has become a late-game force for the Indiana Pacers and he’ll have another chance to prove it Monday night against the visiting Toronto Raptors at Indianapolis.
Haliburton scored 18 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter Saturday in the Pacers’ 131-130 victory over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.
His fourth quarter also included one blocked shot, one of his four steals and one of his 10 assists in helping the Pacers to their fifth victory in the past six games.
Haliburton scored 12 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter Tuesday to help the Pacers defeat the Atlanta Hawks and hit the game-winning 3-pointer in the final seconds to cap a 43-point outing against the host Miami Heat on Dec. 23.
The Pacers will be playing the Raptors for the second time this season, earning a 118-104 home win on Nov. 14.
The Raptors are coming off a 113-104 victory over the visiting Phoenix Suns on Friday, their third win in their past five games following a six-game losing streak.
Toronto opened a stretch of nine of 10 games at home with losses to the Clippers and the Memphis Grizzlies.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse criticized the team’s effort against Memphis on Thursday and told them what he thought in a 20-minute session on Friday. The team responded with a solid effort against Phoenix with Gary Trent Jr. matching his season high of 35 points to lead the way.
The Raptors forced 27 Phoenix turnovers with Thaddeus Young collecting four steals and Trent and Scottie Barnes each adding three.
The Raptors played Friday without Fred VanVleet (back) and Precious Achiuwa (ankle). Both players are listed as questionable for Monday’s game.
