The Indiana Pacers tied a franchise-record 152 points as they dominated Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs with a 41-point blowout win.
The win was the 900th of head coach Rick Carlisle’s career, second among active NBA coaches to his opponent in this game, Gregg Popovich. He’s just the 14th coach in NBA history to reach the milestone.
The Pacers made 20 of their 38 attempts from 3-point range (52.6%) as they continued their hit shooting post-Celtics loss. The Pacers now have the top-ranked offense in the league and average the most assists as well. They had 38 assists against the Spurs. They are one of just six teams with a winning record in the Eastern Conference. They’d be feeling really good about their start if they would have beaten the Hornets on Saturday.
Let’s make like the Indiana Pacers offense and not waste any time. To the grades!
Isaiah Jackson: A+
Jackson gets an A+ solely for the play of the game as he blocked a Wembanyama dunk attempt. It looked like he was about to use his incredibly long reach to put it in from beyond the paint when Jackson rotated over and erased his shot before he could get there.
“It happened so fast,” Jackson said after the game. “I knew he was going to dunk it so I do what I do best. I went to go get it. The pictures look pretty fly.”
Jackson only played in the first half because both Myles Turner and Jalen Smith were in foul trouble with three fouls each. He wasn’t phased by the irony and contributed with some timely plays. He finished with 7 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, and 5 fouls.
Obi Toppin: A
Toppin had his best game with the Pacers so far this season with 19 points (6 for 11). He was the first player to take on the Wemby matchup, saying he tried set the tone of physicality. Wemby was just 3 or 12 from the field as Toppin, Turner, Nesmith, and others all took turns trying to slow him down. A great team effort.
“You think you can block his shot but you can’t,” Toppin said after the game. At one point Toppin tried to block a Wemby turnaround and the high flyer only got to his forearm and ended up fouling him.
Toppin was more aggressive in looking for his own offense in this game, scoring multiple times off the dribble. He was one of only two Pacers to have double-digit shot attempts. He got plenty of buckets and trips to the foul line from transition plays as well including a pick six late in the third quarter.
Toppin said TJ McConnell was giving him a hard time after this play for not going between the legs on the dunk. McConnell is intimately familiar with the Toppin’s ability.
Tyrese Haliburton: A
More like Tyrese Haliburnin’ these last two games.
The Pacers were +27 in his 27 minutes as he scored 23 points (9 of 19) and had his first game of the season with less than 10 assists (8). 20 points came in the first half and he looked just as unstoppable as the third quarter against the Hornets. Even when he missed some shots, his rim pressure allowed for easy tip-ins from the bigs. He’s the engine that makes the offense go and his constant pushing of the pace was key in facing a Spurs team that played an overtime game the night before.
Perhaps my favorite play of his was a quick hit ahead pass to Bruce Brown late in the first half when you could see him look at the clock and then tell Brown, “shoot it!” as he threw it to him for the quick 2-for-1 opportunity. Brown made the 3 to give the team a Pacers record for most points in a half with 86.
Aaron Nesmith: A
Nesmith was fantastic while scoring 15 points (5 for 8) with 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. He won his personal matchup against Wemby while they were sharing the floor, a player he’s giving up an entire foot of height against. He made three of his four 3-pointers is up to 45.2% through the first seven games.
Myles Turner: A
Turner continued his excellent efficiency of late as he added 15 points on just 7 shot attempts. He gobbled up multiple easy offensive rebounds on his way to 11 total boards. 6 of his points came directly off of missed shots from Haliburton. He’s got shooting splits of 52.6/41.4/77.8 and is averaging a career high 8.9 rebounds through seven games.
Other than some first half foul trouble, it was an easy night of work for him in just 21 minutes. He did a nice job forcing tough fadeaways from Wemby whenever he was on him. This was the 500th game in his Pacers career.
Jalen Smith: A
Turner’s understudy continued his fantastic play to start the season. Smith was limited to just 12 minutes because of foul trouble and the blowout but he made all four of his shots and finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds. It feels like he’s improved in just about every area compared to last season. The hot shooting will eventually cool off but right now he’s making an outrageous 73.7% of his shots overall and 66.7% of his 3-pointers. In this game, he even hit a tough fadeaway at the end of the shot clock.
He’s moving the ball well and had a couple of great assists in this game, one finding Haliburton as he moved along the wing and another inside to Toppin on a cut.
Buddy Hield: A
Buddy did what Buddy does. He took 3s. He made them. In this game, it was at an exceptionally high clip as he made 7 of his 8 shots and 5 of 6 from deep. He had 19 points in only 21 minutes. His only blemish was having 4 turnovers.
Bennedict Mathurin: A-
Mathurin was quiet in the first half but was making the right plays. He had a great kick out for a corner 3 that didn’t drop early and a nice pass to a rolling Turner that didn’t result in an assist either. In the third quarter, the team seemed to be actively trying to get him going and he did well with multiple drives to the basket. One with a perfectly placed floater just outside of Wemby’s reach and another twisting reverse layup as he bounced around a defender. He finished with 10 points (4 of 8), 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal. His best play of the game was a no-look dime to Smith late in the third that gave him an easy dunk.
Quick hits (all A-, no one deserves less than that in a 40+ point win):
- Andrew Nembhard finally got some 3-pointers to go down in this and made 3 of his 5. He came in later than he had been as typically he would play alongside Haliburton for a few minutes before taking over point duties. Since he’s not played his best lately, Nesmith got a few extra minutes as the first wing off the bench in this one. Nembhard played well with 9 points and 8 assists.
- Bruce Brown did his glue guy thing with 7 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists. He actively moved the ball to Benn in that third quarter to encourage him to get going. Ben Sheppard got a breakaway dunk, scored with his left, and hit a 3. Jarace Walker was quiet but still contributed with a pair of nice assists and added a couple points at the foul line. Jordan Nwora had the team’s only missed free throw on the night causing a fan next to me to scream, “You ruined it!” He also hit a 3 and got a dunk. TJ McConnell did McConnell things on his way to 4 points and 4 assists in 9 minutes.
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