The Indiana Pacers handed the Wizards their fourth win of the season with another embarrassing loss. The Wizards won by a final of 137-123 behind a dominant second quarter where they outscored the Pacers by 21.
Perhaps the team is growing tired having been on the road and in numerous high intensity games over the last two weeks but losses to league’s bottom feeders are adding up for a playoff hopeful. They’ve already had losses to the Trail Blazers (6-17) and the Hornets (7-16). The Pacers avoided the trap game against the Pistons after the In-Season Tournament Championship game but they’ve fallen in more traps of their own making than Wile E. Coyote after adding one to the now 4-20 Wizards.
Those three Ls plus another frustrating pair of losses to the Bulls and Raptors are the difference between looking like a true top team in East and just being one of the teams bunched up in the middle trying to hopefully avoid the play-in.
After a physical game with the Bucks and the fracas over the game ball that followed that inspired the Pacers to sign James Johnson, they just didn’t have it tonight after a solid first quarter where they were up 37-30. The veteran starters had another trio of duds as Myles Turner (2 for 10), Bruce Brown (2 for 7), and Buddy Hield (4 for 14) all played terribly. Tyrese Haliburton left the game briefly with a knee contusion and didn’t return with the game out of reach. Rick Carlisle said he may not play tomorrow night against the Wolves.
“This is a shit trip. It really is. But it’s the NBA and it’s the greatest life in the world,” Rick Carlisle told Indy Star’s Dustin Dopirak. “You suck it up. You make a bazillion dollars in per diem and you have fun competing. It’s not rocket science. If you don’t like it. Go do something else. I love it. Even when it sucks like it does tonight you’ve got to love the challenge of, now we have to go play the best team in the West tomorrow.”
So lots of negatives the last couple games, I’m going to try and focus on something positive for each player. I never got the grades up for the Bucks game with all the attention on the game ball fiasco so below are two grades for each player and something positive:
Tyrese Haliburton – Bucks Grade: C+, Wizards Grade: B-
A pair of so-so games with Haliburton’s high standard of play. As far as positives go, his aggressiveness with drives to the basket in the first half against the Bucks was awesome. He blew by a Bucks defender multiple times in the first half for dunks as they tried to put their longest wing options on him with Marjon Beauchamp and Andre Jackson Jr.
Myles Turner – Bucks Grade: B+, Wizards Grade: F
Staying positive so absolutely nothing from the Wizards game will be brought up for the Pacers center. Turner typically has good games against the Bucks and that was the case on Wednesday. On his 22-point night though, it was the four offensive rebounds that stood out. The Pacers stayed in the game much longer than it felt like they should have been because of how well they crashed the offensive glass. Turner finished with 9 rebounds total as they actually won the rebounding battle against the Bucks 45-43.
Buddy Hield – Bucks Grade: D-, Wizards Grade: D+
The Pacers desperately need Buddy to make shots and it just isn’t happening in too many—sorry, lost the positivity train there for a moment. Hield racked up 3 steals and 2 blocks against the Wizards. While I can’t say I was impressed by his defense in either game, he did earn a rare 5-second post-up call against Kyle Kuzma, though it seemed to have more to do with Kuzma and Wizards being uncertain about how they wanted to approach the possession than Hield’s defense. It was a less than ideal matchup for Hield on that end, but he found some ways to contribute with his shot not falling at its usual rate.
Obi Toppin Bucks Grade: F, Wizards Grade: B
Toppin bounced back from a frustrating Bucks game where he fouled out in 20 minutes and had some good moments offensively against the Wizards. I’ll highlight his impressive ability to finish less than perfect lob passes as he can adjust his body in the air and finish them with smooth reverses. He had a nice one in the first quarter against Washington as he was on his way to 16 points (6 of 8) and 5 rebounds. He was the only starter to shoot better than 42% in that game.
Bruce Brown Bucks Grade: C-, Wizards Grade: F
Brown got to pad his stats a bit against the Bucks in garbage time as he ran the offense for a group of third-stringers but his defense against Damian Lillard is the primary reason his grade isn’t lower. Lillard made less than 50% of his shots and while he got to the foul line enough to make his night more efficient, Brown did a decent job on him the majority of the night. No comment on his defense against Jordan Poole, however.
Isaiah Jackson – Bucks Grade: B, Wizards Grade: A
Staying positive is easy with Isaiah Jackson right now. After taking an elbow to the face from Bobby Portis in the prior game (no foul even after it was reviewed), Jackson was sporting a mask against the Wizards. In just 20 minutes, he put up 20 points (10 of 13), 13 rebounds (six offensive), a block, and an assist.
He was fantastic, played with force at the rim, finished impressive lobs, and did a lot of damage in just 20 minutes. He would have played a lot more if not for foul trouble, his never-ending kryptonite.
Bennedict Mathurin – Bucks Grade: B-, Wizards Grade: B-
14 free-throw attempts and 14 makes in these last two games for Mathurin. It’s been good to see him earn numerous trips to the line of late especially against Milwaukee with 10 attempts in that game alone. This was something Pacers fans grew accustomed to seeing from Mathurin as a rookie frequently but as he’s been trying to grow into more of a playmaker for others, it has not been on display as much. This ability to get to the line signals his potential to be a game changer offensively for Indiana as much as anything else.
Aaron Nesmith – Bucks Grade: C+, Wizards Grade: B-
Nesmith plays harder than just about anyone on the roster. He still has trouble doing so without fouling at times as he racked up 10 fouls in these two games but his aggressiveness pops. In the Wizards game, he made three straight 3-pointers in about 90 seconds. Against the Bucks, he had some really nice takes to the basket with impressive finishes. There’s a lot to like about the Pacers wing, if only he could be asked to defend the other team’s twos and threes instead of being the best option at 6’5” against the larger power forward sized guys like LeBron and Giannis every night.
TJ McConnell – Bucks Grade: C, Wizards Grade: C
McConnell’s short mid-range fading jumpers along the baseline and inside the paint haven’t been falling as much as he’d like lately as he went 8 for 19 in these two games. He’s still found ways to contribute with his constant energy and setting up other teammates. My favorite play from him in these last two games is where he gave the ball up to Mathurin on a fast break instead of taking the easy two points for himself. He’s always going to be unselfish and never worrying about what his personal numbers look like. It’s not the only time he’s done it this season but I can remember at least twice where he’s done it for Benn on a night where he hadn’t made many shots from the floor. It stood out in high contrast to a play later in the game when Bruce Brown chose to score himself during garbage time instead of giving it to rookie Ben Sheppard in a similar situation.
Ben Sheppard – Bucks Grade: A, Wizards Grade: C+
Sheppard played so well during garbage time against the Bucks that he forced their starters to come back into the game. Giannis should be thanking him for that 64-point career high because it would have been lower without Sheppard forcing him to return with 8 quick points that cut their lead to 10. He didn’t do a whole lot with his rotation chance against the Wizards. He barely touched the ball offensively so it’s hard to put much of that on him. He did have three assists while running the point after the Pacers waved the white flag.
Jarace Walker – Bucks Grade: C+, Wizards Grade: B+
Walker made a 3-pointer in both of these games. He came late in the third quarter against the Wizards and made a difference as they chipped away at the 22-point deficit with him in the game. While he picked up a ton of fouls quickly against Giannis that showed he might not be ready for the toughest assignments, he did enough against the Wizards to show the vision of what he can do with a textbook vertical contest at the rim that forced a shot-clock violation and a block on another play that got waved off because of a foul by another player. Be patient with the Pacers rookie. He also has a nice synergy with Sheppard as he seems to look for him on the perimeter whenever they play together.
Jordan Nwora – Bucks Grade: B, Wizards Grade: B
Nwora made some shots in both of these games during garbage time. That’s what his strength is supposed to be and he did it, making 4 of 5 shots and scoring 11 points in 10 minutes including 3 of 3 from deep. There’s just not much of a pathway to minutes for him as the roster stands but it’s good to see him get some shots to go down after he had struggled a bit in his limited chances as he’s pushed his 3-point percentage from 26.7% to 38.9% with just three makes.
Oscar Tshiebwe – Bucks Grade: C, Wizards Grade: C
Tshiebwe scored his first official point against the Bucks and inadvertently caused one of the dumbest heated post-game scenes that can come to mind. Talk about high impact. Tshiebwe also scored his first field goal in the next game against the Wizards. Surprisingly, the rebounding machine has just one rebound in 10 minutes over these two games.
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Absolutely clueless take clearly you’re a guy that’s a modern fan above everything else you give him higher grades than the best player in the team who even know didn’t play at his complete best. He still played 10 times better than the next best player on the team which is Myles Turner not BenneBRICK
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I’m a tougher grader on Tyrese than anyone else because he is the best player on the team. Each player is graded to their own standard as much as anything else. Benn also has one of the lowest average grades among the rotation guys for the season and Tyrese has by far the highest average grade.
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