Well, that was an unexpected thriller, wasn’t it?

The Indiana Pacers’ preseason is over, and with it, the countdown to the regular season has officially begun. In true Pacers fashion, they made sure that even though Thursday’s outing against the Charlotte Hornets counted for nothing more than bragging rights, they still gave Pacers fans a rollercoaster ride and a sneak peek of what to expect during the season.

Despite being down by as many as 16 points, the Pacers rallied in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Hornets 33 to 21 points and capping off the run to force overtime with an improbable last-second four-point play by Ben Sheppard. Yes, even in the preseason, the Pacers still manage to make my heart rate rise to unhealthy levels. Even though I told myself I would not overreact to a preseason game for the first three quarters, by the time Sheppard forced overtime, I found myself determined to watch them pull it off as if it were Game 7 of the NBA Finals.

Sure enough, the Pacers pulled it off, outscoring the Hornets by five points in overtime to finish their preseason 2-2 and carry a bit of momentum, insignificant as it may be in the long run, into the regular season.

Pray tell, who do you think led this late-game comeback and overtime barrage to power Indiana over the Hornets? Was it Myles Turner with his 18 points on 7/10 from the field? Was it Ben Sheppard with his 14 points on 50% shooting and the game-saving play to force overtime? Or was it the ever-reliable Tyrese Haliburton, with his 14 points and five assists on 5/9 shooting? If you guessed any of the three names mentioned, you’d be wrong. You’d also be mistaken if you mentioned any of the 14 players currently on Indiana’s full-time roster.

To find Indiana’s savior on Thursday, we must look to their two-way players and turn to Enrique Freeman. Yes, that Enrique Freeman, the 50th overall pick out of Akron in this year’s NBA Draft. Going into the draft, the Pacers looked to improve on two of their main soft spots from last season: defense and rebounding. Freeman, a walk-on at Akron University who initially had no intention of playing basketball, was a low-risk, high-reward prospect ready to be given a chance. Becoming the first Akron Zip to be selected in the NBA Draft’s two-round format, Freeman led the entire NCAA in rebounding this past college basketball season with 12.9 per game as well as leading the Mid-Atlantic Conference (MAC) with 1.7 blocks per game and ranking fifth in points in the MAC with 18.6 per game.

“Hard play is both a skill and a talent, having that kind of motor and that kind of desire,” Rick Carlisle said about Freeman. “It’s elusive to try define all of this stuff when you’re evaluating players. People looked at his age and where he played stuff like that but I give our scouting people a lot of credit.”

In the Summer League, Freeman impressed Pacers brass even more with his hustle and inability to give up on a play, no matter how lost it may have looked. His 8.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, and one block per game on 60% shooting were enough for the Pacers to take a chance on him and sign him to a two-way contract with the Mad Ants. Fast forward to the preseason, and Freeman made the Pacers look like geniuses, as the possibility that Indy had just found a new diamond in the rough became greater with every passing game. While his on-paper stats of nine points and six rebounds on 66% shooting in 16.2 minutes per game are already impressive, they do not tell the whole story, a recurring theme in his play.

“It’s what got me here,” Freeman said of his hard play. “… For me, energy is something I always bring. Coming from Akron as a walk-on, energy is undoubtedly like a nonnegotiable.”

This was put on display in the preseason finale against Charlotte. Despite not playing until the fourth quarter and only logging 14 minutes total, Freeman was the spark that kept Indiana going for the long run. In those 14 minutes, Freeman logged 15 points (second on the team), five rebounds (all offensive including multiple airballs from teammates that he turned into points), and two blocks on near-perfect 7/8 shooting. Overtime was where Freeman shined most, as he saved nine of his 15 points for the final five minutes, almost outscoring the Hornets team by himself and converting the go-ahead dunk to put Indiana up six points with less than a minute remaining, a lead they would not relinquish.

As I said before, we cannot put much stock into the preseason, especially the NBA preseason. Stars are resting, role players are playing big minutes, and two-way contract players may get their only taste of real rotation minutes for the entire season. However, there are some things we can note, and the continued excellence of a player is certainly that. Freeman’s performance on Thursday does not have to be a one-off by any means. There is certainly potential for a rotation player in the league very soon.

“I see versatility. I see an amazing amount of desire and if things continue to go the way they are going with our guys that are our top-line players, we may need to have him active on opening night to go in there with energy,” Carlisle said. “He had that kind of impact on the game. I’m happy for him and for that group.”

In some ways, Freeman’s hustle and nose for the ball harkens back to recent Pacers fan favorites Alize Johnson and JaKarr Sampson. However, unlike Johnson and Sampson, Freeman has clear offensive potential and a set play style mainly consisting of post-ups and left-shoulder hook shots. Freeman has also shown some potential as a shooter in college, shooting 72% from the free throw line and an encouraging 37% from deep on 1.5 attempts per game in his final college season after never taking many threes prior. Long story short, if Enrique Freeman keeps developing at the rate, he can become a supercharged version of Indy’s former fan favorites and hold onto a spot in the NBA for a long time.

Indiana just waived Cole Swider following the preseason, giving them one extra roster spot before the season opener against Detroit, leaving a possibility that Freeman’s two-way contract can be converted to a standard contract, allowing him to play in every NBA game this season compared to the 50-game limit he would have on his two-way deal. Of course, they can also leave him on the two-way contract until the game limit is reached before converting him to a standard contract.

“For myself, being versatile on defense and being able to guard multiple positions can help this team,” Freeman said. “I think my motor and how hard I play helps this team. We play with such a fast pace on offense and my game compliments that. Working on my shot and overall as a rookie I’m learning a lot, trying to get the system down pat.”

With the Pacers building a reputation for rebuilding forgotten recent draft picks and finding diamonds in the rough, there is a chance Freeman will climb the ladder and work his way into the rotation sooner rather than later. He is certainly off to a great start.