The Indiana Pacers looked as fun as advertised in their season opener against the rebuilding Wizards as they scored the most points by any team in a season opener with 143 points since 1990 as they blew out the Wizards by 23 points.
Indiana dominated the final three quarters of the game out-scoring the Wizards 109-81. They scored at least 34 points in every quarter, looked completely unstoppable offensively once they got going, and did it with a balanced 9-man rotation with eight players scoring in double figures.
The Pacers started slow with a slippy, sloppy first quarter as they gave up 39 first quarter points, gave up a ton of points in the paint, and struggled to take care of the ball. The first play of the game had the entire Pacers fan base holding their breath in fear as Tyrese Haliburton slipped and fell hard on the opening possession. Fortunately, he immediately got up and was fine but the team took some time to find their rhythm on both ends. The hot takes were flying with fans getting anxious as the Pacers fell behind by 7 or more points on multiple occasions early with porous defense and a sputtering offense.
“Not much in the first quarter, we struggled,” Rick Carlisle said when asked about what was clicking for the offense with 38 assists and 143 points. “We were off-kilter, out of rhythm. It looked like we were probably thinking too much and we had to pick up our defense. They had 16 or 18 fast-break points in the first half which is a losing number in anyone’s building.”
Once they shook off the nerves, the Pacers took care of business against a team expected to be near the bottom of the league’s standings at the end of the year.
Let’s move into the grades and dive into the specific performances:
Bruce Brown: A
The Pacers leading scorer was their big free-agent signing in Brown. While his 2-year, $45 million contract wasn’t offered for bucket-getting prowess, that’s where he shined in the opener as he scored 24 points with a career-high six 3-pointers.
“Just the walk-in outfit alone was worth it,” Rick Carlisle said in an unprompted statement on Brown’s cowboy pregame fit.
He wasn’t wrong. The signs were there that Brown was going to have a special night as soon as he walked into the building.
Haliburton was a little more skeptical of the fit saying, “The cowboy hat was cool but naked under the overalls is crazy.”
You can see the chemistry has already grown between the pair as they joked about it together after the game. On the court, Brown was everything the Pacers hoped for and more, providing versatile defense and fitting in with any lineup he played with as he was a team-high +15. The scoring was just a bonus.
“Our offense is so random that anybody can score the ball, it was just me tonight,” said Brown.
Tyrese Haliburton: A-
20 points, 11 assists. Just light work for the Pacers franchise all-star. He started off slowly with the scary slip and was more focused on moving the ball around and getting his teammates involved in the first half as he had just 5 points on four shot attempts (one of his made shots was a 3-pointer where his feet were off-set in an awkward manner).
Once the third quarter started though, Haliburton taught the Wizards a few things about magic. As he just picked apart the Wizards defense with trick after trick with 11 points in the first four minutes of the half including four drives into the paint to go with a pair of assists to Obi Toppin.
The opposing team had no answers for anything the Pacers star was throwing at them as he put up 15 points in the third quarter serving as the Mortal Kombat finishing move that sucked any hope Washington may have had left in stealing a W.
Bennedict Mathurin: A-
It’s happening. Bennedict is evolving. While his efficiency wasn’t great from the floor (6 for 15), Mathurin showed improvement in all of the key areas of his game where he needed to take a step. Really close to an ideal game in terms of his long-term development.
Defense? After the first quarter, it was much improved. Enough to the point where iPacers contributor Rhett Bauer texted me, “Am I crazy or am I loving Benn’s defense?”
Passing and decision making? 5 assists and only two turnovers. More importantly they came on quick decisions where last season Mathurin would have been much more likely to size up a defense on the catch, wait a beat, and then make his decision–usually jab step and drive inside with no intent to pass regardless of the number of defenders in his way.
His buckets came in the flow of the offense or with him getting out early in transition. It was a very good first game of an important second season for the Pacers budding prospect. He scored in bursts and his highlight of the night was dropping Tyus Jones to the floor and then hitting the mid-range pull-up, forcing a steal on the next defensive possession and then hitting a 3 in transition.
Obi Toppin: B
Toppin only played 19 minutes as his final minutes in the rotation would have been in the fourth quarter when the game had been decided. While he started slow like the entire starting lineup, he had some great moments on his way to 11 points and 4 rebounds.
One sequence in particular stuck out from the third quarter as Toppin started an initial fast break with an outlet pass to Mathurin. After the Pacers attempt was blocked and the Wizards rushed back with an advantage, Toppin stole a pass while quickly getting back. Then he gathered an offensive rebound and found an open Haliburton 3-point attempt. After another Pacers offensive rebound on the miss, he created a look for Haliburton again, this time getting the assist. It was one of those back-breaking sequences that can demoralize a team with every additional play as the anticipation builds for the crowd to finally reach a crescendo as the ball eventually goes through the net.
Toppin got his first lob in a game that counts from Haliburton and finished an and-1 and hit a pair of 3s on five attempts.
Myles Turner: B
Turner really struggled to find a rhythm early as he missed his first three shots and had two turnovers in his first six minutes.
He came back into the second quarter with a motivated mindset as he blocked a Corey Kispert 3-pointer, altered another shot that missed inside, and scored consecutive baskets to give the Pacers their first lead of the game. He finished with 11 points (5 for 8), 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks. He played only 23 minutes as he also dealt with some foul trouble in the second half.
Andrew Nembhard: A
T.J. McConnell: A
Nembhard was the Pacers backup point guard in this game as McConnell did not play until the game’s final six minutes. It was a bit surprising with how well McConnell played in the preseason and Carlisle started his media availability after the game talking about how hard of a conversation that was too have with a competitor like the Pacers veteran and fan favorite.
“Coaching in the NBA is in essence a lot of fucking hard decisions,” Carlisle said after the game.
McConnell gets an A simply for being a fantastic teammate in a difficult situation for him.
Nembhard showed why this was a decision that the coaching staff had to make as he put up a double double with 12 points and 10 assists in only 22 minutes. You can see the lessons that he’s learned from both of the other Pacers point guards in the way he pushes the pace and his penchant for getting to his spot and hitting those easy mid-range fadeaways.
The way he gets to his spots couldn’t be any more different than McConnell though. While McConnell out works and out hustles everyone with nonstop movement, Nembhard just crafts his way to his spots at his own pace, making it look as simple as a walk in the park.
Jalen Smith: A-
Smith scored a quick 11 points (4 of 5) in the first half that kept the Pacers from falling too far behind in the first quarter while they struggled to figure out the defensive end with a surprise lineup from Washington that featured Danilo Gallinari at center. He continues to look like an improved player from last season and is playing with a lot of force inside. He also dealt with some foul trouble in the second half as the Pacers trouble with fouls continued from the preseason.
Buddy Hield: A
He did exactly what you would want a sharpshooter off the bench to do. Within 10 seconds of him entering the game, he had hit a 3-pointer. He added 14 points, five assists, a block, and a steal.
Aaron Nesmith: B
Nesmith was the quietest of the 9-man rotation as he scored only 7 points (2 of 5) to go with five rebounds, and one nasty weak side block on Gallinari. His 2-point basket came where he just worked harder than the Wizards defenders as he beat them to an offensive rebound and they didn’t even bother getting in his way as he went to the rim.
Notes on everyone else:
- Isaiah Jackson played 11 minutes as he got some third-quarter minutes because of foul trouble. How ironic for a player that so often struggles with exactly that. He added the cherry on top of a delicious season-opening sundae with an alley oop slam on the Pacers final possession of the game.
- Jordan Nwora put up 7 shot attempts in just six minutes. He made a pair of them. Not much else to be said.
- Ben Sheppard got his one shot attempt blocked by Bilal Coulibaly, who flashed defensively a few times in this game. Other than that, he was pretty quiet, recording no other stats in his debut.
- Jarace Walker desperately wanted to score in this one but definitely looked like he was feeling the nerves a bit. He went 0 for 5 from the floor in his debut including an airball on his first attempt and seemed to rush a couple others inside. He got a steal that set up the Isaiah Jackson lob that was the Pacers final bucket of the game.
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