Indiana Pacers basketball is back. At least the preseason variety anyway. They opened the exhibition games against the Memphis Grizzlies with an overtime loss by a final score of 127-122 with some impressive performances from their pair of first-round rookies in Jarace Walker and Ben Sheppard and from second-year player Bennedict Mathurin.
The rookies didn’t see any time until the second half and the Pacers star of the first two quarters was clearly Mathurin. The player the Pacers are likely banking on seeing the most growth showed some necessary improvements offensively with making simple reads that he often would not have as a rookie. He may have only had two assists but there were many plays where he made the right, simple pass to find an open teammate or to keep the offense flowing.
He also looked confident with his 3-pointer which faded in effectiveness as the season went on last year. Multiple times he pulled up from deep without hesitation including one telling possession where a defender tried to duck under a screen as Mathurin immediately took advantage with the open triple.
He finished with 18 points (7 for 13) and 7 rebounds in 22 minutes. Defensively, he remains a work in progress and continues to struggle with fighting through screens and keeping track of his man when defending off the ball.
The Pacers sat out Tyrese Haliburton, and Andrew Nembhard was out with a kidney stone. This made the point guard rotation an interesting one as TJ McConnell and Bruce Brown were used as the primary ball-handler throughout the first half.
Overall, it felt like the same Pacers team as last year. Lightning fast in transition but can’t put together any string of stops on the defensive end. The Grizzlies dominated in the paint all night. Jaren Jackson Jr. scored easily on just about every player that attempted to guard him including many possessions of him easily backing down Obi Toppin into the paint and a nasty crossover blow by against Myles Turner.
Toppin got things started off with a solid defensive play and then a floater in transition for the team’s first points and scored a quick 7 in the first few minutes of the game. After making his first three shots, he missed his last four, finishing with those 7 points and 5 rebounds in his 16 minutes. There were plenty of glimpses of his natural ability to get out in transition for easy dunks and he should get a ton of those once the regular season starts and he’s playing with Haliburton.
Bruce Brown looked good in his first game wearing the blue and gold. He finished with 5 points, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a block in 16 minutes. He’s already showing off his valuable versatility with being able to capably handle the point-guard duties when needed as he often ran the pick and roll with Myles Turner.
McConnell repeatedly got into the paint or around the baseline for his trademark fadeaway short mid-range shot. He racked up 11 points and 8 assists in 17 first-half minutes, punctuating his performance with a 3-pointer at the end of the half. Turner was quiet most of the game. His 3-point shot shook off some rust in the preseason as he went 0 for 3 with one very short airball and another very long miss off the backboard. Turner added 3 blocks and a steal to go with his 6 points.
Jordan Nwora and Isaiah Jackson got the first crack at the backup 4 and 5 minutes. Both had some okay moments. Nwora struggled with his shot a bit as he went just 1 for 6 from deep. Jackson managed to force a couple of misses from JJJ which felt like a rare sight.
The second half saw the game get very weird—as preseason is prone to do—as Buddy Hield, Isaiah Wong, and Sheppard all had extended stretches playing the point. Indiana finished regulation and overtime playing a lineup of Sheppard, Walker, Kendall Brown, Oscar Tshiebwe, and Jalen Smith. Safe to say that the Pacers will never close with that lineup once the regular season begins but they kept it close throughout before falling short at the end.
Weird lineups or no, Walker and Sheppard were impressive in their NBA debuts. Sheppard started off strong in the third quarter where he scored 11 points as he hit three 3-pointers with Walker assisting on a pair of them.
He went a bit cold in the fourth quarter and overtime as he was often forced to create for himself more than he normally would be with the aforementioned odd lineup and finished with 15 points on 16 shot attempts to go with 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.
Walker started off slow with his scoring as he missed his first five attempts but was still making contributions with his passing and defense. Then, he started hitting deep triple after deep triple including one deep 3 that gave the Pacers a lead with four minutes left, another triple that tied the game with under two minutes to go, and a 4-point play in overtime that gave the Pacers a 4-point lead that they were unable to hold onto.
He made 7 of his last 10 shots and was 4 for 9 from deep overall. The confidence he showed in the shot after he struggled in summer league was good to see, perhaps that procedure he had on his shooting elbow helped his comfort with deeper looks as well. He hit a few floaters, made good reads offensively with his passing, and made his usual highlight plays defensively including an emphatic block.
He did gamble for a steal and gave up what ended up being the go-ahead basket for the Grizzlies in overtime and tried to force in a few ill-advised passes that resulted in turnovers. Not a perfect game but considering he was able to produce as well as he did in such a large lineup with not a ton of natural spacing available, it was a very impressive performance overall. He finished with 19 points (7 of 15), 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, and 4 turnovers.
Jalen Smith gobbled up lots of offensive rebounds and finished with 9 points and 8 rebounds. He sent the game to overtime with a driving layup with 3.2 seconds left but missed his first free throw when down two late in overtime that ended up sealing the Pacers fate in this one. Though no one was upset that they would not be playing in double OT.
Aaron Nesmith struggled with his shot, played solid defense unless he was trying to stop David Roddy’s large body from driving into the paint. Buddy Hield went 0 for 4 from deep. Kendall Brown had a nice reverse layup late in the game. Isaiah Wong did not look like he could handle running an NBA offense as a lead guard. Tshiebwe had a nice dunk in transition that got the bench excited as you could hear them yelling on the broadcast.
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