


Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers stole one from the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night.
Indiana forced two turnovers in the final 29 seconds of overtime, and Haliburton blew past Giannis Antetokounmpo for the go-ahead layup with 1.3 seconds left to give the Pacers a 119-118 victory and a 4-1 series win.
The Pacers closed the game with an 8-0 run over the final 40 seconds of OT to eliminate the Bucks in the first round for the second straight season. They will face top-seeded Cleveland in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Haliburton had 26 points and 10 assists.
Antetokounmpo finished with 30 points, 20 rebounds and 13 assists, and Gary Trent Jr. made eight 3-pointers and scored 33 points for Milwaukee.
But Trent was also the culprit in the two turnovers late in OT. His inbound pass was stolen by Andrew Nembhard Jr., leading to a three-point play by Haliburton. And then, with the Bucks leading by one and just needing to maintain possession and get to the free-throw line, the Pacers pressured the ball, forcing Milwaukee to scramble. Trent couldn’t control an errant pass and lost the ball out of bounds with 10.8 seconds left.
Pistons 106, Knicks 103: Cade Cunningham had 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Detroit won to cut New York’s lead in the first-round series to 3-2. Ausar Thompson added 22 points and Tobias Harris had 17 for the Pistons, who will have a chance to even things up Thursday night at home in Game 6.
OG Anunoby scored 19 points for the Knicks.
Spurs’ Castle named Rookie of the Year: Stephon Castle won the Rookie of the Year award, giving the San Antonio Spurs back-to-back winners of the award, with Victor Wembanyama last year and Castle this season. It was one-sided in the voting. Castle got 92 first-place votes, easily topping runner-up Zaccharie Risacher of the Atlanta Hawks and third-place finisher Jaylen Wells of the Memphis Grizzlies. Risacher got five first-place votes, Wells got the other three.
Castle led all rookies this season in points (1,190) and steals (74).
Kings close to keeping Christie as coach: The Sacramento Kings are closing in on a deal with Doug Christie to keep him as coach following an interim stint that ended with a loss in the Play-In Tournament. A person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press that the Kings are finalizing a multiyear contract with Christie. ESPN first reported the decision. Christie took over the Kings after Mike Brown was fired in late December and posted a 27-24 record in his interim stint. Sacramento made it into the Play-In Tournament as the ninth seed but lost its home game to Dallas.