For the second straight game, the Indiana Pacers Summer League team dominated in the second quarter and coasted into a win. They are now 2-0 after beating the Orlando Magic by a final score of 108-85.
This game was highlighted by fantastic ball movement and a high pace of play to score 108 points in 40 minutes of game time. All 9 Pacers that played had their moments in this game as each scored at least six points.
“I think we switched some things up on the defensive end, did some more guard-your-yard kind of thing,” Andrew Nembhard said. “Sheppard played some really good defense. I think Jarace played really good defense. Benn stepped it up. Myself, Isaiah. The whole starting lineup did a really good job of playing hard and making the matchups personal.”
Let’s get to the grades and talk positives and negatives. As always, it’s important to not overreact to anything that happens in these mostly meaningless games in Las Vegas.
Player Emoji Grades
Andrew Nembhard – 🎓
Swing that tassel to the left side of your cap, Andrew Nembhard. You have graduated from NBA Summer League. For the second straight game, Nembhard just looked like he was in complete control and picked his spots to just dribble into the lane at his own pace for his slightly fading jumper just inside the free-throw line.
It often just looked too easy for him. He finished with 21 points, 7 assists, and 3 steals. He had some fantastic assists among his seven and cut his turnovers way down from the first game and had just two. Other than missing a few layups in the second half, it’s hard to find too many mistakes for him in this one. He confirmed after the game that he will not be playing in the remaining games in Vegas this week.
“He played great,” Pacers summer league coach Jannero Pargo said. “It’s just a comfort level of having him out there with the ball. He makes the right read. He makes the right plays. He keeps us settled, gets us in to offense without any problems.”
Jarace Walker – 👁️
The Pacers rookie continued to impress on both ends of the floor. Walker finished with 16 points (7 for 17), 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block. The assists continue to be the most intriguing plays offensively as he continues to flash his vision and playmaking that you would typically see from a guard. In the fourth quarter, he beat the Magic’s full court pressure and found Isaiah Jackson for a lob.
“He’s a monster,” Isaiah Jackson said of Walker. “He has been doing his thing – he’s been hooping. He’s been bringing a lot of energy to us, especially at the start of games. He’s just all over the place, he does everything. He’s a good fit for our team.”
He started the second quarter by blocking a shot on the Magic’s first possession and then stopping a transition opportunity on the next one after a turnover and turned it into one of the highlights of the day for the Pacers.
He’s got the big body of a pass rushing linebacker and he has the same nose for the ball as one that loves to strip sack the quarterback. He’s been a big-time playmaker on both ends in these first two games. Once again, the only area that was a struggle was his shooting. He made just 2 of his 8 from deep but it’s still encouraging that he’s confident enough to let them fly. He started the second half with a pull-up triple from the top of the key.
The shot selection at times was questionable especially on long pull-up twos but he went 5 for 9 inside the arc and made a floater, dunked it with force, and executed a nice fake hand-off play on an ATO.
Bennedict Mathurin – 😇😈
Mathurin felt like he had the angel and the demon on his shoulder tonight trying to convince him to either make the simple, right pass or force the action and try to score at all costs.
Early in the game, he often fell into the temptation of only looking at the rim, regardless of how well he was being defended. He had a turnover and a couple of his shots blocked in the first few minutes as he was forcing the action.
But he also finished the game with six assists, many of these plays were just moving the ball and making the extra pass but those type of plays are what you want to see from a guy that far more turnovers than assists last season. He had a pair of drop off assists on drives that were easily his best of the night. He finished with 17 points, 6 assists, and just two turnovers. He couldn’t find his shot most of the night (4 of 16) but still managed to get to the free-throw line nine times and made enough plays outside of scoring to contribute to the win.
Ben Sheppard – 🏹
After being invisible in his first game, Sheppard got himself involved early and often in this one. He finished with 16 points and 9 rebounds while making four of his seven 3-pointers.
“He does a great job of asserting himself in the game on the defensive end, getting rebounds and letting the game come to him on offense,” Nembhard said. “I think you saw that happen with him getting threes down.”
He made hustle plays throughout the night and four of his nine rebounds were offensive. He scored a 3-pointer off of one of his offensive boards by sneaking from the other side of the court and tipping it away from the defender and then calmly collecting it at the 3-point line and draining the shot. One hustle sequence from both Walker and Sheppard had Isiah Thomas actually talking about the action on the court during the game which was an accomplishment in itself.
Isaiah Jackson – 🫠
Jackson dominated against this level of competition for the second game in a row, just looking too good to be stopped by the Magic defenders. He had another double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. He made impressive lob finishes with his left hand, bumped defenders off of him for easy layups, and did his work on the glass on both ends.
The problem continued to be his inability to defend without fouling. He had three fouls in the game’s first six minutes and finished with six after having eight in the first game. Too many of his fouls continue to be him being unable to stop himself from biting on pump fakes and making it too easy for the opposing player to draw the whistle. Jackson also confirmed that he will not be playing the rest of the games in Summer League play this year.
Kendall Brown – ⚡️
Brown continued to look deserving of a 2-way contract and showed off his blazing speed at multiple points. He gets down the floor so quickly on transition opportunities. He bursted through three defenders to draw a foul in his first minutes and finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds. He made a 3-pointer and didn’t hesitate to shoot on a couple of open looks which was a question for him coming out of college.
Mojave King – 🧠
King played 10 minutes in this one and had some really nice moments that showed off his basketball IQ. On his first possession he dropped off a nice play to Oscar Tshiebwe to the rolling big man to set him up for an easy two. In the fourth quarter, he made a 3, blocked a shot, drew a foul on a drive, and made a timely cut to the basket when his defender oddly decided to gamble for a steal or double. You can tell the Pacers stash pick just knows how to play the game and honestly looks more NBA ready than 2-way signee Isaiah Wong so far.
Oscar Tshiebwe – 💪🏿
The big man from Kentucky did exactly what he’s supposed to do in this one. He gobbled up rebounds with 8 in only 12 minutes of action and he finished his opportunities at the rim with 3 for 3 shooting and 7 points. Hard to ask for more in that amount of time. He finished a seal inside with an and-one basket and added a steal that set up a fast break dunk as well.
Isaiah Wong – 😐
Wong continues to not really look like a point guard so far. He struggled to deal with ball pressure at times and seems more suited as a shooting guard than someone running the offense. He reminds of Joe Young but not as good of a scorer to this point. He’ll get a lot more time the rest of the week and I’ll be interested to see how he fares. Maybe I’m being too harsh after being spoiled with Nembhard as a Summer League orchestrator. He did make a couple nice mid-range pull-ups and went 2 for 3 from the floor and only had one turnover. He had the great unselfish play to throw it off the backboard to Mathurin on that dunk.
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