LOS ANGELES: Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton scored 31 points as the Pacers turned the tables on the NBA champion Celtics with a confident 123-114 victory in Boston on Sunday.

Two days after Jaylen Brown’s 44 points propelled the Celtics to a 142-105 blowout victory over the Pacers Indiana got their revenge.

Haliburton added six rebounds and seven assists without a turnover and six players scored in double figures for Indiana, whose lights-out shooting in the second quarter saw them seize a seven-point halftime lead that they would push to as many as 16.

Brown stayed hot, delivering 31 points on 13-of-21 shooting with six assists. Jayson Tatum added 22 points with nine rebounds and six assists.

Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard scored 17 points each for Indiana, Nembhard adding eight rebounds and eight assists as he returned after missing Friday’s game with left knee tendinitis.

Nembhard said maintaining their pace in the fourth quarter — when Boston cut an 11-point deficit to two with 7:38 to play, was key for Indiana.

“I think that was the biggest thing we did late in the game,” he said. “We kept pace in the game. We didn’t slow it down and worry about the score too much.”

In Orlando, Cole Anthony drove for the game-winning layup as the Magic erased a 21-point deficit to beat the Brooklyn Nets 102-101.

Tristan da Silva scored 21 points to lead the injury-ravaged Magic. Goga Bitadze added 19 and Anthony scored five of his 10 in the fourth quarter as Orlando closed the game on a 22-4 scoring run.

Cam Thomas, back after missing 13 games with a hamstring strain, came off the bench and led Brooklyn’s scoring with 25 points but missed a jump shot as time expired.

Anthony admitted that da Silva, who scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, was supposed to get the ball on the play that yielded his game winner.

When that failed to pan out, he said, “I’m like, alright, I’m gonna go get a layup!“

The Nets were without veteran Dorian Finney-Smith, who was traded along with Shake Milton to the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday in a deal that sent D’Angelo Russell to Brooklyn.

Miami’s Tyler Herro scored a game-high 27 points before he was ejected in a bench-clearing brawl that saw six people tossed in the waning seconds of the Heat’s 104-100 victory over the Rockets in Houston.

The Heat were up 99-94 when Rockets reserve Amen Thompson flung Herro to the court with 35.7 seconds remaining.

Both players, who had been jostling for position before an inbounds pass, were ejected, along with Miami’s Terry Rozier and Houston guard Jalen Green, Rockets coach Ime Udoka and his assistant Ben Sullivan.

Houston’s Fred VanVleet had been ejected with 47 seconds remaining in an unrelated incident.

In a game that featured 13 lead changes, the Rockets led by seven with 8:10 to play.

Herro’s basket with 1:56 remaining put Miami up 95-94 and they pulled away to win amid the closing chaos.

In Oklahoma City, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points to fire the Western Conference-leading Thunder to a 130-106 victory over the injury-hit Memphis Grizzlies.

Gilgeous-Alexander was an efficient 14 of 19 from the floor with six rebounds, seven assists and four blocked shots and with the game in hand sat out most of the fourth quarter.

Atlanta’s Trae Young posted a double-double of 34 points and 10 assists as the Hawks handed the Toronto Raptors a 10th straight defeat, 136-107.

Young made seven of the Hawks’ 18 three-pointers, his efforts from beyond the arc matching the Raptors’ total of three-pointers.

De’Andre Hunter added 22 points off the bench for the Hawks who won their fourth straight and spoiled the season debut of Toronto’s Bruce Brown after his recovery from arthroscopic knee surgery.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has named a 15-member squad for the upcoming ICC U19 Women’s T20 World Cup 2025, with wicketkeeper-batter Komal Khan leading the national side.
Zoofishan Ayyaz will be vice-captain of the Pakistan team during the 16-team tournament, which is set to be played in Malaysia from January 18 till February 2.
There are four groups in the tournament, with each group consisting of four teams each, according to the format. Pakistan are placed in Group B alongside England, Ireland and USA.
“Pakistan team, which recently featured in six-team ACC U19 Women’s Asia Cup in Malaysia, will undergo a training camp at the Hanif Mohammad High Performance Center in Karachi from 31 December to 9 January,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement.
“The team will depart for Malaysia from Karachi via Dubai on 10 January.”
Pakistan will play their opening match on January 18 against USA. This will be followed by the encounter against England on January 20, while Pakistan’s last group match will be against Ireland on January 22, according to the PCB.
“All three matches will be staged at the JCA Oval, Johor in Malaysia,” the board said.
After the conclusion of the Group Stage fixtures, three teams from each group will qualify for the Super Six. The bottom-ranked sides from Groups A and D, and B and C will contest in last place play-off on 24 January.
The 12 teams, which will qualify for the Super Six stage will be divided into two groups. Group one will include the top three teams each from Group A and Group D while Group two will have top three teams each from Group B and Group C.
In the Super Six stage every team will carry forward their wins, points and Net Run-rate (NRR) which is secured against their fellow Super Six qualifying teams. Each team will play two games in the Super Six stage.
The top two sides from the two super six stage groups will qualify for the semifinals. The semifinals are set to take place on January 31, while the final of the tournament will be played at Bayuemas Oval in Kuala Lumpur on February 2.
Pakistan squad:
Komal Khan (captain), Zoofishan Ayyaz (vice-captain), Aleesa Mukhtiar, Areesha Ansari, Fatima Khan, Haniah Ahmer, Maham Anees, Mahnoor Zeb, Memoona Khalid, Minahil, Quratulain, Ravail Farhan, Shahar Bano, Tayyaba Imdad and Wasifa Hussain