The Indiana Pacers won their second straight game to start the season after overcoming a slow start behind a career-high night from Aaron Nesmith and a late outburst of scoring from Tyrese Haliburton to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers by a final of 125-113.
The Cavaliers were missing multiple All-Star caliber players in Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, and Jarrett Allen and playing on the second night of a back to back but Caris LeVert was fully prepared to turn in a revenge game performance as he scored 19 points in the first seven minutes as the Pacers quickly fell behind by 15.
“We couldn’t have got off to a worse start,” Rick Carlisle said.
The Pacers adjusted how they were defending LeVert both in personnel and in scheme as they started trapping him whenever someone came to set a screen for him and he scored just 12 more points the rest of the game. The bench was paramount to taking advantage of the Cavaliers lack of depth with so many players out and four of the five in the second unit were +17 or higher while on the floor.
This game started to feel reminiscent of the embarrassing loss to the Nets last season where they were missing nine players including all of their stars. For a team hoping to make a playoff push, it was good to see them bounce back and avoid the classic trap game by not letting an opportunity to beat a short-handed team and get a victory slip through their fingers.
And now the grades:
Aaron Nesmith: A
I’ll let Myles Turner start the assessment of Nesmith’s performance:
That pretty much sums it up. Nesmith was impactful from the moment he entered the game as he initially helped the Pacers stay close during the LeVert storm.
He had a pair of drives in the first quarter where he attacked baseline and finished with a reverse layup around Evan Mobley and another basket inside. They were both plays similar to his ferocious act of violence when he dunked on Allen last season and in the fourth quarter, he had his third baseline drive with his left hand and punctuated his night with a dunk that gave him his career high of 26 points and was just missing a defender to posterize to complete the repeat image of last season.
He scored 10 points in the first quarter adding two of his five 3-pointers in this stretch. Every time the Pacers needed a big shot to keep themselves close in the first quarter or to stave off a Cavaliers run in the second half, it felt like Nesmith was there on the perimeter to hit a big shot or grab an offensive rebound.
He finished shooting 10 of 16 overall (5 for 9 from deep) and added 9 rebounds including four on the offensive end. He looked like a total bargain at his extension number (3 years and $33 million). After a quiet season opener, it was Nesmith’s turn to go off in the Pacers “random” offense that Bruce Brown said allows it to be anyone’s night.
“This is the reason we wanted to sign him and have him be one of our long-term pieces,” Carlisle said. “His development both offensively and defensively is on the come. He’s getting better all the time. … He’s really found a niche in our random, flow game.”
My favorite play of the game from him was a fake lob in transition where got himself a layup. It’s a play normally seen from Haliburton.
Tyrese Haliburton: A in the fourth quarter, C+ in rest of the game
If you asked Tyrese, he’d probably give himself an F after he said he was “horrible” in the post-game interview. But 21 points, 13 assists, and 8 rebounds is anything but that.
Haliburton did struggle to make shots as he was playing through an illness until a Cavaliers fan decided to fire him up late in the fourth quarter. Haliburton turned into Reggie Miller over the next minute and made three consecutive 3-pointers to clinch the win.
Outside of scoring though, Haliburton was impactful all night in his usual ways of setting up others with crisp passes that other players just can’t make. He’s a walking 20/10 even on an off night.
T.J. McConnell: A
McConnell was out of the rotation in the opener but became the break glass in case of emergency player the Pacers needed for a jolt of energy after their slow start to begin the game.
“It was pretty clear in the first quarter that we needed him and what he brings,” Carlisle said after mentioning he told his staff they would have to be decisive in recognizing the moments where the Pacers need to use him even when he’s not in the planned rotation.
McConnell was +25 in the first half as the Pacers went from down 15 to up 10 and put up a typical nice McConnell line of 8 points and 8 assists in 19 minutes overall.
Bennedict Mathurin: D (or lack thereof)
To say Mathurin struggled defensively in this game would be an understatement. His poor defense is a big reason why the Pacers struggled at the start of both halves. He opened the game guarding LeVert on many early possessions and all that did was allow LeVert to look like he was going to be Kobe Bryant on his 81-point night. After disposing of him on the way to the rim multiple times, LeVert was feeling confident and in rhythm before he took his first outside shot.
In the second half, they had Mathurin chasing Max Strus as he ran around screens and that didn’t go well either. The Pacers gave up 38 and 37 points in the first and third quarters.
Mathurin continues to make strides and the first game was full of good things from him but this was a case of seeing how much farther he still needs to go to be a consistent two-way player. Offensively, he was pretty good as he scored 13 points (5 of 10) in only 17 minutes and did his thing with some impressive shot-making inside and aggressive moves in transition. The poor defense however led to his minutes being -11 for the team on the night as the Pacers closed with the steady defense of Nembhard over him.
Jalen Smith: A
Stix is no longer putting up bricks for outside again this season. Through two games, he’s made four of five 3-pointers. He’ll have plenty of games where he goes 0 for 2 from deep but it’s good to see him start the season with confidence from behind the 3-point line after making just 28% last season.
One of his 3-pointers came at the end of the shot clock in a crucial second-half moment. In just 19 minutes, Smith (+17) scored 13 points (5 of 7) and added 6 rebounds and 3 assists. He was on the receiving end of a few Haliburton no-look dimes in the first quarter and continues to show no signs of giving up the backup center role to either challenger.
Myles Turner: A-
Turner was instrumental in the Pacers biggest run over the second quarter as they held the Cavs to only 12 points. While he only had two blocks, he altered many shots in that quarter in particular to force a miss, gather the rebound, and then get the Pacers started in transition with the outlet pass.
He finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds. He had a multitude of jump hooks in the paint including one where he faked a pass one direction and then went up in the other to get the shot in over Evan Mobley. He hit a 3 in the corner after the three straight triple barrage from Haliburton that served as another dagger to the Cavs corpse.
While Evan Mobley did score 33 points in a larger role than usual with so many players out and had a fantastic game, the combination of Turner and Smith matched his point production. While there are certainly a few plays Turner may wish to have back on that end, he got his share of stops on him.
Quick hits:
- Andrew Nembhard: B. Nembhard was much quieter on offense as he wasn’t serving as the backup point guard with McConnell getting minutes but he was the Pacers best defender on LeVert and helped turned things around on that end. Overlooked during the Tyrese sequence, he assisted the first 3 and set two fantastic screens to set up the other two. He added 4 points, 4 assists, and a pair of steals and along with McConnell was a team-high +21.
- Obi Toppin: C. Toppin was quiet through most of the game. He didn’t get a ton of opportunities and the Pacers didn’t get out in transition much early. He played just 18 minutes with Nesmith having a career night. He did have a nice drive inside, many a crazy offensive rebound where it looked like he had no chance to get as high as he did to corral it. He also had a nice block in the third quarter on a Max Strus drive.
- Buddy Hield: C. Buddy was the weak point of the bench lineup in this game but still scored 10 points and added 4 assists. Grade brought down by inefficiency as he made just 4 of 12 shot attempts.
- Bruce Brown: C. Brown needs to go back to his overalls pregame fit because dressing like a star made him a star in that first game. He was fine on both ends but didn’t have the same opportunities on offense as the opener. He got himself in foul trouble at the end of the first half but was one of the key pieces along with Nembhard to slowing down LeVert. He finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds.
Fun with small sample sizes:
- The Pacers finished with 36 assists and only 8 turnovers. This follows a 38 assists and 12 turnover game in the opening win against the Wizards. The Pacers lead the league in points per game, assists per game, and have the least amount of turnovers per game in the first week of the season.
- The Pacers as a team have shooting splits of 50.7/40.5/86.2 to start the year.
- The Pacers have the highest offensive rating in the NBA at 128.2. The next highest is the Clippers at 121.1.
iPacers 