Myles Turner Shines in Playoff Debut

Myles Turner put up an impressive performance in his Indiana Pacers playoff debut. What does this mean for the rest of the first round?

Due to Paul George’s show-stopping performance in Game 1 against the Toronto Raptors, rookie Myles Turner’s first career playoff game went somewhat unnoticed in the mainstream media.

The Raptors definitely noticed, though.

Turner, needed in large stretches of the game due to foul trouble from Ian Mahinmi, had to shoulder a huge weight in the front court with 26 minutes off the bench — the most of any big man on the Pacers.

The young man delivered. While 10 points and 5 rebounds seem pretty standard, his impact on the game was most evident on the defensive end, where he swatted 5 shots. These weren’t baby blocks either.

Myles Turner | PointAfter

Shots by both Jonas Valanciunas and DeMar DeRozan picked up some frequent flier Myles, and Turner earned himself a nice little record in the process; he’s now the youngest player to ever record 5 blocks in a playoff game. Turner also went an efficient 56% (5-of-9) from the field and had a plus/minus of +15, second only to George and tied for Turner’s third best plus/minus game in his career.

The only real gripes you can make about his game were the unacceptable number of offensive boards the Raptors got while he was on the floor, two botched free throws, and getting suckered into 4 fouls in about 7 minutes. The rebounding effort, by him and everyone, must improve but you cannot put that all on Turner. The number of mistakes he made in Game 1 were fewer than you would say about most 20-year olds. For Turner’s only playoff experience being, ironically enough, a loss to the hometown Butler Bulldogs as a Texan Longhorn, he sure looked like he knew what he was doing.

A complementary narrative to Turner’s first playoff game was how Game 1 would also be C.J. Miles’ and Rodney Stuckey’s first playoff contest in over half a decade, and how they’d be just as motivated to start this series. That narrative didn’t quite pan out in the postseason opener, as Miles and Stuckey put up rather forgettable contributions and Turner played like, as Frank Vogel put it after the game, “he’d been playing in the playoffs for 10 years.”

Eyes now turn to Game 2 in The 6, where both teams will have some decisions to make.

Luis Scola and Lavoy Allen aren’t working out as the starting power forward for either team, though their minutes are already limited to less than almost anybody else who touches the floor. It may be difficult for the Pacers to want to tweak their lineup too much after a double-digit win, but it’s clear that the front court had major issues on Saturday.

Valanciunas was an absolute monster on the boards for the Raptors, nabbing 19 of them in 21 minutes. The only counterattack the Pacers had for him was that one NBA rule where you receive a disqualification for committing 6 fouls in a game. Other than Mahinmi, who was at least able to hold Valanciunas’ offense in check (4-for-14 from the field), Turner is the only man with the size to keep the 7-footer from having a buffet on the glass. Valanciunas won’t foul out every game, so Turner has to do his part. He showed aggression in Game 1, but that has to translate into rebounds without fouling as the series heats up.

And while Valanciunas had the spotlight for his lead role in the chaos, the rebounding problem doesn’t end with him. Scola, Patrick Patterson, and Bismack Biyombo combined for 20 boards in the game and the Raptors as a whole had 20 offensive rebounds. The Pacers had 9. There are a lot of things you can say about this team in terms of frustration, but there were multiple times where Game 1 looked more like a volleyball match than a basketball game, and Chase Budinger isn’t on the roster anymore. Turner showed hints of having the paint presence necessary for dominance in Game 1, but as he has had to all season, he’ll need to figure it out fast if the Pacers want to keep the Raptors from stealing their early series lead.

Turner may have hit the rookie wall since his big birthday game in March, but the playoffs aren’t gonna wait on him to get out of his funk. Game 1 proved that Turner has what it takes to accomplish that on his own.

Next: Hustle Plays A Big Part in the Indiana Pacers Winning Game 1

Any shot the Pacers have of making it past the first round and beyond rests a lot more on Turner’s shoulders than you’d like for a rookie, but if his playoff debut was any indication, he’s up for the task.