Johnny Furphy was having the worst possible luck in trying to score his first NBA points. After his first three games in just over 13 minutes, he had gone 0 for 6 from the floor without any trips to the foul line.

The only baskets he had made on the court didn’t count. One that was erased by a foul call before the shot in his first game action and another that came just a second too late at the end of the first quarter against the Knicks as corralled an offensive rebound right before the buzzer was sounding. Finally, in his fourth NBA game, the lid was removed from the rim as he forced a turnover by poking the ball free from a Jalen Suggs drive, leaked out ahead of the defense, and finished the play off with a dunk.

We’re going to ignore that potential travel just like the referee did but the rookie was very close to scoring his third basket that didn’t count. His teammates were very excited for the second-round pick with Obi Toppin front and the center pointing to the rim as soon as Furphy caught the pass from T.J. McConnell to make sure he didn’t pass up his golden opportunity to him.

The entire bench was standing and loving it. Tyrese Haliburton could be seen on the broadcast whipping his towel and yelling, “Yea, Furph!” One possession later, Furphy came to the bench with a smile that couldn’t be wiped off his face with Bennedict Mathurin quick to laugh and celebrate the moment with him.

Suddenly with that first one out of the way, Furphy contributed with another pair of baskets at the rim in the second quarter, one coming on a rebound tip-in where he was fouled and another with a well-timed cut from the corner where he finished with a reverse layup. For that brief stretch, he was Johnny Perfy with 100% field-goal percentage and a quick 7 points.

“He’s a very good player off movement. He’s got size. He’s deceptively tough,” Rick Carlisle said after the disappointing loss to the Orlando Magic. “He gave us some really good minutes in the first half … You can see why we’re excited about him in the future and right now too.”

He would not score over the rest of the game as he missed his final three attempts: a contested corner three he took with confidence, a dunk attempt that was blocked at the rim but that came off of another good cut, and a layup that was snuffed out at the rim early in the fourth quarter as well. His box score was modest when all was said and done with those 7 points, 2 rebounds, and a steal but he earned that praise from his head coach.

Furphy was on the floor at the start of the fourth quarter for part of that 10-0 run by the Magic that was the deciding stretch of the game. It’s hard to put much of the fault on him as the Pacers struggled to make multiple attempts near the rim and the offense continued to look awful after he came out of the game with just six points over an 8-minute stretch. During his last few minutes, Furphy was playing multiple possessions with a bleeding finger after Suggs slapped the ball out of his hands after he had grabbed an offensive rebound. He was clearly bothered by it as he awkwardly held his hand until there was eventually a whistle and he was subbed out of the game.

It’s the second straight game where Furphy has been pressed into early rotation minutes with so many Pacers players out due to injury. The coaching staff has trusted the Australian rookie to provide some needed rest for other members of the short-handed rotation.

“We were very convinced that he was going to play hard, be in the right places, battle defensively, rebound the ball, and run,” Carlisle said after practice Tuesday of what the team expected from the rookie after he wasn’t able to play at all in the preseason. “His minutes were solid (against the Knicks) and they were needed.”

When you watch him on the defensive end, you can see he’s an attentive defender, always moving his feet, adjusting his position when off ball to be ready to help on a drive, closeout to his man, or make a rotation. It’s a small thing but something that young players often struggle with early in their careers.

While it’s not anything to be overly hyped about yet, it was a solid game for a 19-year-old rookie with little experience and little expectation to be playing at all when the season started. Furphy’s development will be something to monitor as the season progresses.