The Indiana Pacers started off the NBA In-Season Tournament’s Group Play with a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers by winning a back and forth second-half battle by a final score of 121-116.
The Pacers followed their embarrassing 51-point loss to the Celtics by looking determined to get a blowout of their own in the first half as they went to the break up 70-53. But the Cavaliers came storming back in the third quarter behind a barrage of buckets from Donovan Mitchell and company as the Cavs trailed by just one entering the fourth.
The Pacers looked like they may have been letting this one get away from them in as the Cavs went up 105-101 on a Max Strus 3 and then Strus blocked a Haliburton 3-pointer. After a timeout, however, the Pacers instantly went on a run behind a Bruce Brown reverse layup, an Aaron Nesmith steal, Buddy Hield triple as a lost a defender in transition, a Tyrese Haliburton floater, a Myles Turner bucket on from just inside the paint, and a second Hield 3-pointer. It was a 12-1 run that featured key moments from every player in the closing lineup that put the Pacers up 7 in a two and a half minute stretch.
The Pacers and the rest of the league have special courts for the tournament. Both teams struggled to keep their footing throughout the night with multiple turnovers and defensive miscues caused by the court’s bright slip-and-slide appearance.
It was bad enough that both Haliburton and Turner asked if the rest of the league were having similar issues with their courts. Both players were confident that they would have issues solved before the next time the floor is used.
None of the other teams in the Pacers Group, the Hawks, 76ers, and Pistons, played in the first tournament night so that puts them alone in first place currently. If they can remain in that top spot through Group Play, they’ll advance to the Knockout Rounds which will feature at 8-team single-elimination bracket with the semi-finals and finals happening in Las Vegas.
To the grades:
Myles Turner: A
Turner was unstoppable in the first half. He scored 22 points on only 8 shot attempts while making all four of his 3s on high-arching attempts that could have kissed the clouds before splashing into the net. He had one move in the paint where he quickly fakes one direction and went up with his little jump hook against Evan Mobley.
He finished with 27 points (9 of 14), 9 rebounds, 2 steals, and a pair of key blocks in the fourth quarter. The first coming after the Pacers somehow allowed Donovan Mitchell to rebound his own missed free throw as Buddy Hield ran too far into the paint and Turner blocked his layup, knocking it off Mitchell’s knee to give the possession to Indiana. The second with the Pacers up 3 with 11 seconds left as he made an incredible recovery to block Mobley’s dunk attempt.
The only blemish on Turner’s fantastic performance were a pair of bobbles on what should have been easy catches that resulted in turnovers including one late in the fourth that the Cavaliers fortunately couldn’t capitalize on as they turned the ball over as well.
Tyrese Haliburton: C+
You could break Haliburton’s grade up into the first three and a half quarters and probably give him a D but the last six minutes were an A-+. It’s starting to become a bit of a trend early for Haliburton who has struggled with his shot to start the season but he’s repeatedly had big moments in the second halves of each Pacers win. It was no different tonight as Haliburton hit a difficult step-back shot over Allen to put the Pacers up 3 with 16.5 seconds left.
It continues to be impressive that even without Haliburton at his best to start the season, he’s still averaging a gaudy 19.5 points and 12.5 assists.
“I was just trash,” Haliburton said after finishing with 18 points and 13 assists. “I don’t know what to tell you, man. Not shooting it well right now … just got to stay true to what I do and my work and trust that. … Things will start to go my way. Just a matter of time.”
Haliburton didn’t score until he hit a technical free throw late in the second quarter. He had just 8 points after getting his fifth missed 3-pointer was blocked by Strus but had 10 points in the final six minutes plus a few of many assists.
Bruce Brown: A–
Home Bruce and Road Bruce may be becoming a thing to keep an eye on. In three home games, Brown is averaging 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds while shooting 57.9% from the floor. In two road games, Brown is averaging just 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds while shooting just 28.6%. Some fun with small sample sizes there.
In this game, Brown hit timely 3-pointers in huge moments that stemmed the tide during big Cavaliers runs and kept the Pacers ahead. He had a 7-point run to himself in the first quarter that featured a 3 and a pair of layups. He finished with 19 points (8 of 15), 7 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Aaron Nesmith: B+
Rick Carlisle said it best in regards to Nesmith:
“That period at the end of the third quarter where it was hard to hit a bull on the ass with a bass fiddle, he got the ball in the hole a couple times,” Carlisle said of Nesmith’s contributions to the game.
Carlisle complimented Nesmith’s constantly improving game and work ethic. He came up big in the second half with 9 of his 13 points and allowed the Pacers to go into the 4th-quarter with a 1-point lead during the period Carlisle was referring to. He had yet another fantastic baseline drive against the Cavs, this time finishing with a reverse layup over Allen.
He hit a fadeaway after driving into the paint, faced up a Cavs defender and hit a 3-pointer. In the first half, he had a huge block inside against Caris LeVert that led to him hitting a sidestep 3-pointer after pump faking.
He continues to be Carlisle’s preferred closing option over Toppin during crunch time and he’s earned it. He played 30 minutes tonight and the Pacers likely don’t win the game without him. Even with the Cavaliers playing their two bigs in Mobley and Allen, the undersized Nesmith was the play. He finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and a block.
Buddy Hield: A–
Buddy came off the bench and did exactly what you would expect him to do on a court that looked almost identical to his home country’s flag.
As soon as he came in the came, he hit a 3-pointer on a BLOB play. He hit a huge three in the fourth after a Nesmith 3 where he stopped his dribble pivoted and looked like he would pass it to Nesmith. Strus left him enough where Hield just pivoted right back around and hit a 3 to give the Pacers a lead that they would never relinquish.
He slipped on the court late in the game after walking over a spot where Garland had just dived while trying to save the ball. The durable shooting guard came up limping but stayed in the game. The crowd chanted “Buddy! Buddy!” to encourage him. The Pacers were a team-high +16 with Hield on the floor and I still can’t get over some of the passes he’s able to make this season including a perfectly placed lob to Jalen Smith.
Jalen Smith: A–
Stix had many strong plays inside including a couple of finishes with his left hand, bullied mismatches down low, banged into Allen to score once, and just continues to look like a brand new player compared to the previous season.
Smith said at media day that he added some muscle over the summer as an experiment to see if he could still everything he’s accustomed to doing while at a larger weight. The experiment was clearly a success.
He finished with 13 points (6 of 8), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and a nasty chasedown block.
Quick hits
- Andrew Nembhard: C. Nembhard was struggling perhaps the most with the floor throughout the game and never seemed comfortable so giving him some benefit of the doubt but he didn’t play very well. 6 points and 3 assists in 18 minutes.
- Bennedict Mathurin: C. Mathurin didn’t score much as he had just 5 points thanks to three missed free throws but his passing was fantastic. He had 5 assists and just one turnover but all of the assists came in the first half. The skip pass to Nesmith in the corner in transition was especially impressive. His defense against the Cavs in this one was much better than the first game.
- Obi Toppin: C. Toppin had some fun moments per usual, finishing a lob in transition and had a pair of nice takes to the basket but continues to mostly be an afterthought offensively when he’s out there. His roll gravity does continue to open up shots for his teammates when they use him that way.
- 3-point variance on full display in the last two Pacers games as they followed making just 5 of 37 3s by going 15 for 31 in this one. While the Celtics made 20 of 35, the Cavaliers went just 8 for 28.
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