The Indiana Pacers (5-3) took care of business against the Utah Jazz (2-7) on Wednesday night with a strong 4th-quarter to win by a final score of 134-118.
For most of the game, it felt like the Pacers were going to be unable to push their lead beyond seven points as the Jazz kept hanging around. From the very start of the game, that felt like the limit as they went on a 7-0 run to open the scoring but then immediately gave up 12 straight after a Jazz timeout. They would have two more 7-point leads that the Jazz would rally back from before they began to pull away for good in the 4th-quarter.
It was a balanced scoring effort for the Pacers who were led in scoring by Aaron Nesmith with 24 points off the bench, Bennedict Mathurin had 22 points in his best game of the season so far, and Myles Turner also had 22 points with 20 of them coming in a dominant first half.
“I think that just speaks to our team and who we are,” Nesmith said of the Pacers getting major contributions from many players. “The offense we play, how fast we play, it can be anyone’s night on any given night.”
The second unit came up big most of the game as each of the four players coming off the bench were in the double digits in +/- and they were the lineup that extended the lead to start the fourth quarter.
“I thought our second unit tonight really gave us a lot,” Rick Carlisle said. “They gave us physical play defensively and they were doing good things offensively. They were in there during some of those stretches in the fourth … and our starters came back in and finished the game in a big way. It was great to see.”
To the grades!
Bennedict Mathurin – A-
Carlisle called this perhaps the best game in his two years in the NBA. He led the team in minutes with 38 and had the highest +/- for the Pacers on the night at +18 and it wasn’t only scoring that he did well.
“He earned them,” Carlisle said of Mathurin’s minutes. “We needed him out there. That’s how it’s gotta be.”
He grabbed five offensive rebounds and nine total. On multiple rebounds, he quickly found an open teammate on the perimeter for a 3-point look, including a Tyrese Haliburton triple in the corner. He had a one-hand putback in transition with a Jazz defender also vying for the rebound. In total his offensive rebounds resulted in seven points for the Pacers in the second-half.
He continues to make huge strides with making simple reads and the right pass. He finished with four assists in this game. His turnovers were a little higher than they have been with three but multiple of them came with him trying to make a pass: one to Turner where it looked like he was going to shoot it with one-hand in the lane and another on a lob that would have been perfect for Obi Toppin or Isaiah Jackson but was a little too high for Bruce Brown.
Mathurin hit four 3-pointers in this game on seven attempts, nearly matching his makes in the first seven games of the season (5 for 22). He took them with confidence and had two step-backs in the first half and a pull-up 3-pointer that got the Pacers rolling to start the 4th. While he was only 5 for 11 on his shots inside the arc, that would have looked a bit better if he got a friendlier whistle at the rim. He shot no free throws despite drawing contact on multiple drives to the basket. He did miss a dunk on a fastbreak opportunity where he tried to go with the windmill but didn’t quite get enough lift to flush it cleanly as it bounced off the rim.
Aaron Nesmith: A
Nesmith ended up leading the team in scoring thanks to a quick 8 points in the final few minutes that left no doubt of a Pacers W. 2 of those points coming on another electric dunk from the baseline, finishing a no-look pass from Haliburton with a posterization of Jordan Clarkson.
Carlisle highlighted Nesmith’s emerging skill in crashing the offensive glass. He had one in the fourth quarter as he grabbed the contested board by out-jumping everyone near the foul line. He then took one dribble and quickly finished with a layup.
He continues to flash an improved mid-range game when he can’t get all the way to the rim on his drives. In the third quarter, he made light work of Alby from White Lotus, Simone Fontecchio, with a nice turnaround basket in the lane.
Nesmith got his 24 points on 9 of 13 shooting from the floor and 4 of 6 from 3. On the season, he’s now the team’s fourth-leading scorer at 12.9 points in 24.8 minutes per game. He’s making the most of every chance he gets while making 61.2% of his 2-point attempts and 48.6% of his 3-pointers through 8 games.
Myles Turner: A
Turner took advantage of the Jazz being without Walker Kessler and just got whatever he wanted in the first half as he racked up 20 of his 22 points in only 23 minutes. His jump hook feels like it’s added another foot or two in range this season and took advantage of mismatches with multiple in this game.
Turner gathered three offensive rebounds and turned each of them into buckets and took advantage of the extra attention being paid to Haliburton to slip into the paint and finish inside on multiple occasions. He also added 3 blocks and made 8 of his 12 shot attempts.
Jalen Smith – A
Stix is an absolute beast. Everything he does this season just feels like it comes with 50% more force than it did last year when he began the season as a starter and ended up being completely out of the rotation at times. Against the Jazz, he put up 16 points (5 for 8), 11 rebounds, 2 steals, one block, and an assist.
“I chalk it up to the type of character that he has. He went through some things last year where there was some real ups and downs, mentally and emotionally,” Carlisle said. “He starts 27 games, gets benched, goes through some of the mental gyrations with that and just decided that, ‘I’ve gotta pick it up. I’ve gotta work harder when I get my opportunities. I gotta raise my level.’ He did that.”
This block on Collin Sexton is a perfect example of the sheer force that Smith is showing on a nightly basis. He sent this shot attempt back to Salt Lake City.
“Last year obviously didn’t go the way I wanted,” Smith said after the game, “so I dug-in in the offseason and just kept working. Right now, I’m just playing my game and doing my job.”
In one of my favorite plays of his in this game, he fought three Jazz players for a rebound and tipped it to Mathurin, shred Fontecchio off of him, and then gathered a loose ball to get a dunk with a foul.
Tyrese Haliburton – B
Haliburton was quiet in the first half as he took only two shots and didn’t score but he still had seven assists including a pair in the final minute that gave the Pacers a 7-point halftime lead. He finished with 16 points (6 of 12), 13 assists, 6 rebounds, and a steal.
“Great players recognize what is needed,” Carlisle said of his star guard. “In the first half, they were trapping him, they were hitting him, they were trying to get the ball out of his hands. All he did was keep moving it to the right people.”
In the second half, he started to find the openings and took advantage of multiple switches by the Jazz defense that put Kelly Olynyk on him. One of the baskets in this scenario a running Ty-hook as he crossed through the paint, an impressive, difficult shot.
“In the third quarter, he found the openings. Lloyd (Pierce) had a couple of good suggestions of ways to get him loose,” Carlisle said, “and he started attacking downhill and the scoring aspects of his game changed. Great players on nights where shots aren’t there find other ways to beat you And that’s exactly what he did.”
He had a couple of uncharacteristic turnovers on poorly placed passes early in the first and couldn’t find his 3-point shot (1 of 6).
Buddy Hield – D
Buddy really struggled with his 3-pointer in this game as he made just 2 of 12 of his attempts from deep with many of the attempts badly bricked. Some of the misses were major momentum swings like one possession where he missed two straight that could have given the Pacers a 7-point lead but the Jazz ended up with an and-one basket on the other end instead. Hield will have games like this but his constant motion and energy are still helpful to the Pacers random style of offense. He still had a couple of good takes to the basket and finished with 10 points (4 of 16), 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block.
Andrew Nembhard – A
Nembhard was perfect from the floor on his four shot attempts and finished with a clean 9 points, 7 assists, and zero turnovers. He had the Pacers second-highest +/- in the game at +16. He had a key stretch at the end of the third quarter after the Pacers fell behind by 3. Nembhard scored on his trademark mosey to the paint and scored just inside the free-throw line, rejected a screen on the next possession and set up Mathurin for a layup, and then gave Lauri Markkanen just enough of a nudge with the off arm to creat space for another middy. A quick 6-0 run in 37 seconds.
Bruce Brown – B-
Brown wasn’t that efficient with his shots (4 for 11) but played good defense and added two steals and a block that had Collin Sexton begging for a taunting tech like he was the tattletale Randall from Recess.
Obi Toppin – C+
Toppin had just 6 points on 3 of 7 shooting but led the team in steals with 3 and got way up for a block in the second half as he found ways to contribute on the defensive end in his 19 minutes.
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