The Indiana Pacers became the first team in the NBA to clinch their group in the In-Season Tournament by defeating the Atlanta Hawks by a final score of 157-152.
Defense not required for either team in this one as both teams made over 60% of their field goal attempts and had halves where they scored 86 points. The Pacers were the only team to hold their opponent under 30 points in a single quarter. In the end, that was just enough defense to sneak out of Atlanta with a win.
The Pacers still have one more game remaining in Group Play against the Detroit Pistons. Even though the Pacers have clinched to move on in the IST, they’ll still be playing for home-court advantage in the first round of Knockouts. Currently, the Celtics and Bucks are both at the top of the other Eastern Conference groups but both still have two games remaining. If all the group winners are undefeated, then the tiebreaker will be by point differential. So, the best thing for the Pacers to do on Friday against the Pistons would be to get a blowout win.
Player Grades:
Tyrese Haliburton: A-
You know Haliburton is feeling good when he’s skipping back to the other end which he did multiple times during his 26-point explosion in the third quarter that turned the game around for the Pacers.
Haliburton was unbelievable. He’s talked about how much the In-Season Tournament means to him as a player that hasn’t been to the playoffs yet and his second-half performance showed he’s ready for those type of moments. Down 13 at halftime, Haliburton was responsible for 38 of the team’s 46 points in the third quarter that gave the Pacers a 5-point lead heading into the 4th. He made 8 of 9 shots and 7 of 8 from deep. Superstar stuff.
37 points, 16 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and a block. He hit 9 of his 15 3-point attempts. He’s only dinged on his grade for an uncharacteristically high six turnovers but he was a superstar in this game. The Hawks began doubling him in the backcourt to make other Pacers beat them in the 4th and one teammate stepped up in a big way.
Buddy Hield: A+
Reinserted into the starting lineup, Hield was perfect from deep (6 for 6). The Pacers needed every make and he delivered when the Pacers needed someone to step up when Haliburton was getting doubled and face guarded after giving it up.
Hield scored 13 points in the last five minutes including a pair of 3-pointers after the Pacers briefly lost their lead. He hit the game-winner with 52 seconds left as the Pacers miraculously didn’t allow any points in the final minute.
Obi Toppin: A
Toppin responded to coming off the bench for the first time with a great performance. He had some electric highlights including one poster dunk and another near amazing finish on a lob that he couldn’t quite handle enough.
Even though he came off the bench, he ended up playing 34 minutes in this game as he finished playing as a small-ball 5 as Carlisle opted to match the Hawks small lineup. His timely cutting proved to be a perfect matchup against the Hawks who are very attentive to the ball-handler in their scheme just as the great Caitlin Cooper predicted.
Isaiah Jackson: A
This felt like the most impactful minutes that Isaiah Jackson has ever had in his career. In the second half, the Pacers turned to Jackson for 12 minutes and he delivered with four blocks, five rebounds, and two points on a bonkers putback slam on a rare Haliburton miss.
Jackson was one of few bright spots defensively in the entire game as his blocks erased points from the board and allowed the Pacers to move in transition at times. One of his most impressive blocks came as he just followed Bogdanovic all the way down the floor in transition, just baiting him to go up for a shot. He easily swatted it away when he attempted a layup. While Jackson still has trouble with fouls (5 in these 12 minutes), the Pacers don’t win this game without his fantastic third quarter and some game-changing plays.
Bennedict Mathurin: A
Mathurin was back in his 6th-man scoring machine role from his rookie season and scored 19 minutes in only 20 minutes. While it was surely disappointing for him to be back to coming off the bench, he did his thing offensively. He started the fourth quarter by extending the Pacers lead with huge buckets including a 3-pointer, a layup, and an and-1 basket that showcased his strength.
Myles Turner: A–
Turner only played 25 minutes in this game as IJax played so well he earned extra time and then the Hawks went super small to finish the game. While Turner was out there, he played well with 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 blocks.
This felt like one of the best defensive performances from Turner all season which feels odd to say in a game with so little defense but when there was a rare stop in the first half, it was often a Turner block where he hit it off the backboard and corralled the rebound.
Offensively, Turner was efficient (4 of 7) and did a good job using his body to draw fouls inside.
Bruce Brown: B+
Bruce Brown was key in defeating the Hawks trapping Haliburton scheme along with Buddy as he made plays in 4 on 3 situations as the Pacers would move him to the middle of the floor when the Hawks went to double. Brown had 13 points (5 of 10), 3 assists, and 2 steals.
Aaron Nesmith: B+
Nesmith in his first start of the season played well. He had a bit of a scary fall in the first half but seemed to bounce back fine. He had a couple big baseline drives attacking closeouts in the fourth quarter. He finished with 17 points, an assist, a rebound, a steal, and a block.
T.J. McConnell: D–
This was not McConnell’s night. He missed a few open layups and got torched on a tough matchup while guarding Bogdan Bogdanovic, who scored 22 points in the first half after getting comfortable being guarded by the smaller point guard. McConnell also seems very reluctant to take any 3-pointers at the moment after becoming fairly capable last season. Pacers missed Andrew Nembhard a bit in this one.
Ben Sheppard: C-
Sheppard got an opportunity in the first half and hit his first 3-pointer but then came up well short on 3 other 3-point attempts in his 5 minutes.
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I might have given Shep a C. He is a non-rotational rookie after all. He seems to get the idea on defense.
A player I expected to see would have been Nwara. He has length and torched ATL for 25 in a quarter last year in ATL. Would have made sense in the 1st half.
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Certainly fair on Shep. Looking forward to watching him with the Mad Ants shortly.
I would not have been shocked to see Nwora after how well he played in the fourth against the Magic. Tough spot for him to find playing time right now.
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