Bruce Brown drilled a career-high six 3-pointers to highlight his 24-point performance, lifting the Indiana Pacers to a 143-120 victory over the Washington Wizards in the teams’ season opener on Wednesday in Indianapolis.
Signed to a two-year, $45 million free agent contract in the offseason, Brown paid immediate dividends by making 8 of 11 shots from the floor, including 6 of 8 from beyond the arc.
Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton collected 20 points and 11 assists in his first game since signing a five-year maximum contract extension in the summer.
Bennedict Mathurin scored 18 points and Buddy Hield had 14 off the bench for the Pacers, who shot a robust 52.3 percent from the floor (56 of 107) and 46.5 percent from beyond the arc (20 of 43).
Jalen Smith recorded 13 points and eight rebounds, Myles Turner contributed 11 and eight, respectively, and Andrew Nembhard recorded 12 points and 10 assists.
Indiana exacted a measure of revenge after dropping a 114-107 decision to Washington in the 2022-23 season opener.
Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma scored 25 points in his first game since signing a four-year, $90 million contract in the offseason.
Washington’s Jordan Poole added 18 points, Tyus Jones had 16 and Danilo Gallinari also scored 16 points in his first regular-season game since undergoing ACL surgery 13 months ago.
Indiana was nursing a 73-68 lead at halftime before scoring 16 of the first 20 points of the third quarter. Haliburton fueled the charge with three hoops from the interior, a mid-range jumper and a 3-pointer to stake the Pacers to an 89-72 lead.
Washington cut the deficit to 11 points before Isaiah Jackson answered with a dunk and Brown drained his fifth 3-pointer to give Indiana a 104-88 lead with 3:37 left in the third quarter.
Hield sank a step-back 3-pointer to begin the fourth quarter and Aaron Nesmith, Brown and Mathurin each added another to push the Pacers’ lead to 128-105. The outcome was not in doubt the rest of the way.
Poole’s driving layup staked the Wizards to a 26-19 lead with 3:35 remaining in the first quarter before Indiana turned on the jets. The Pacers trimmed their deficit to five at the end of the period and benefited from a 39-29 edge in the second to seize the five-point advantage at halftime.
–Field Level Media
