Tyrese Haliburton scores 33 points as Pacers hang on for needed victory over the Rockets

The Pacers picked up a critical victory after losing six of their previous seven games, defeating Houston 123-117 on the road on Tuesday night.

The Pacers improved to 15-14. The Rockets fell to 15-13.

Here are four observations.

Tyrese Haliburton is smiling again

Pacers All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton plays basketball with unbridled joy, but he's also intensely self-critical and after Saturday's loss to the Magic he described his play over the past two weeks as "awful" and hurting the Pacers more than helping.

He'd faced intense defensive pressure since leading them to the In-Season Tournament finals and had struggled against it. In seven games since the IST final, he was averaging 18.3 points per game while shooting 42.9% from the field and 31.9% from 3-point range, all considerably below his season averages of 24.5 points per game, 50% from the floor and 41.3% from 3. He was still averaging 12.4 assists per game, but also committing 4.1 turnovers, well above his season average of 2.8 per game.

But on Tuesday, he was as close to playing like himself as he has been. He was defended by Houston's Dillon Brooks, one of the league's toughest defenders but also one of its most notorious trash-talkers. Haliburton didn't have a problem engaging with Brooks and he seemed energized by the exchanges. He shot better from outside than he has in weeks and finished with 33 points on 13 of 21 shooting including 7 of 13 from the 3-point arc for his first 30-point game since he had 44 against the Heat on Nov. 30 while also recording 10 assists against three turnovers. He scored 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting in the third quarter alone, helping the Pacers outscore Houston 37-23 in that period to take control of the game.

In the fourth, the Pacers struggled, but Haliburton hit the shot that put them over the top. They were tied 117-117 and struggling to hit shots when he sunk a 3 with 1:03 to go. Guard Andrew Nembhard hit a floater and center Myles Turner drew a foul, hitting a free throw to put the game away.

More: Rick Carlisle switches up Pacers starters, adding Aaron Nesmith, Jalen Smith

New starters hit shots

Rick Carlisle suggested he was looking at a lineup change after the Pacers' 151-127 loss to the Clippers on Dec. 18. He finally made one before Tuesday's game, subbing wing Buddy Hield and forward Obi Toppin out for forward Aaron Nesmith and big man Jalen Smith, using a two-big lineup with center Myles Turner playing next to Smith.

The lineup change certainly seemed to be driven by a desire for better defense as the Pacers entered play Tuesday ranking 29th of the NBA's 30 teams in points allowed with 125.8 per game. It actually ended up bringing better shooting, which might not be that much of a surprise considering Nesmith was shooting 46.4% from 3-point range and Smith over 70% from 3 on low volume heading into the game.

The Pacers hit their first six 3s to start the game with all five starters making one and wing Bennedict Mathurin coming off the bench to hit the sixth. The Pacers cooled for a bit and made just 2 of their next 10 3s, but still hit 11 on 22 attempts in the first half. All five starters scored in double figures and the Pacers finished with 19 3-pointers on 43 attempts. Smith had 12 points, Nesmith had 10 as they combined to hit three 3s. Nembhard scored 11 points on 5 of 6 shooting, hitting his only 3-pointers. He also dished out six assists, though he had six turnovers.

Rockets score on Pacers inside early, but Indiana bigs respond

On the other hand, the Pacers' lineup change didn't do as much of what it was designed to do as Carlisle hoped. The Rockets still pounded the Pacers around the rim and still drew a lot of fouls going to the basket, leading to another significant free-throw disparity.

The Rockets scored 40 points in the paint in the first half and made 11 of 12 free throws. Turner and Smith were called for three fouls each as the Pacers committed 11 at the break to the Rockets' six. Rockets center Alperen Sengun continually got positions on the Pacers bigs on the low block and managed to score and draw fouls, scoring 14 points in the first half.

The Pacers, and Turner in particular, responded better in the second half. Houston still scored 34 points in the paint to finish with 74 for the game and the Pacers still committed 11 second-half fouls. However, Houston was 7 of 10 at the line after the break while the Pacers were 15 of 18. After giving up 67 first-half points, the Pacers held the Rockets to 50 after the break on 21 of 50 shooting (42.0%). The Rockets were just 1 of 13 from 3-point range in the second half.

A big part of the change was the play of Turner. Turner played nine of his 24 minutes in the fourth quarter and scored eight points while grabbing two critical rebounds and playing physical defense on Sengun who scored seven points on 3 of 5 shooting in the period and had 30 points and 16 rebounds in the game but had two misses at critical times including one with 21 seconds left that helped put the game away. Turner did that despite picking up a fifth foul during the quarter

"I thought Myles Turner played a great defensive game," Carlisle said. "Sengun is playing in his home building. There's a lot of noise, he creates a lot of contact. There were a lot of fouls being called out there. But down the stretch, Myles did a great job with five fouls of defending him without fouling. Protected the rim a couple of other times when others were attacking it and came through with probably the biggest rebound of the game."

Isaiah Jackson steps up with bigs in foul trouble

The Pacers put two bigs in the starting lineup in Turner and Smith, but both of them got in early foul trouble and Turner played just 15 minutes in the first three quarters. They had to rely heavily on third-string center Isaiah Jackson, and Jackson came through.

The athletic big man scored 11 points in 20 minutes, making all three of his field goals and all five of his free throws while grabbing eight rebounds and blocking three shots, keeping Houston from having life too easy in the paint.

Indiana 123, Houston 117

INDIANA (123)

Nesmith 3-6 2-2 10, Smith 5-11 1-1 12, Turner 5-9 6-7 18, Haliburton 13-21 0-1 33, Nembhard 5-6 0-0 11, Jackson 3-3 5-5 11, Toppin 2-3 2-3 7, Mathurin 3-9 2-2 10, Hield 4-14 0-0 11. Totals 43-82 18-21 123.

HOUSTON (117)

Brooks 4-9 1-1 9, Smith Jr. 4-11 2-2 10, Sengun 11-20 8-9 30, Ja.Green 2-7 1-2 5, VanVleet 7-18 3-3 18, Eason 7-13 1-2 16, Je.Green 1-1 0-0 2, Tate 2-3 1-2 5, Thompson 3-5 1-1 7, Holiday 6-10 0-0 15. Totals 47-97 18-22 117.

3-Point Goals—Indiana 19-43 (Haliburton 7-13, Hield 3-11, Turner 2-3, Nesmith 2-4, Mathurin 2-5, Nembhard 1-1, Toppin 1-2, Smith 1-4), Houston 5-24 (Holiday 3-6, Eason 1-2, VanVleet 1-7, Brooks 0-1, Ja.Green 0-3, Smith Jr. 0-5). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Indiana 45 (Jackson, Smith 8), Houston 44 (Sengun 16). Assists_Indiana 28 (Haliburton 10), Houston 19 (VanVleet 9). Total Fouls_Indiana 22, Houston 16. A_18,055 (18,500)

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Rockets: Tyrese Haliburton scores 33 to lead Pacers