Al Jefferson finally showed us why the Indiana Pacers signed him by averaging 15 points in the last three games.
When the season began for the Indiana Pacers, Al Jefferson looked washed up.
Jefferson only averaged 5.9 points and 4.3 rebounds a game in the first 16 games. Not bad, but as one of your more expensive offseason acquisitions that isn’t a strong return on investment. More troubling than the raw numbers was the fact Indiana was simply better with him off the floor, and by a large margin.
But recently, Jefferson began to find his old form.
No longer is Big Al slowing down the team — well, pace-wise he still does that — but metaphorically speaking he went from dragging them down to taking over the driver’s seat.
In the last three games, Al averaged 15 points while shooting 53.8% from the floor. More importantly, he isn’t dead weight.
The Pacers went to Jefferson more often lately as he is heating up, and so far he is delivering. The Pacers have made more of a point to feed Jefferson the ball, and despite attracting double-teams, he’s still scoring.
Against the Brooklyn Nets he went 8 of 14 and against the Los Angeles Clippers he was 8 of 17 from the field, with 16 points in both games.
He was more efficient against the Portland Trail Blazers with his 5 of 8 performance with 13 points.
When the Pacers were down, Indiana opened the door to a tinkering of the lineup that was unique for this season.
An experiment worth repeating
In the Pacers’ loss to the Trail Blazers, we also saw something we hadn’t seen all season: Al Jefferson and Myles Turner paired together.
With Indiana trailing 109-82 going into the quarter, coach Nate McMillan decided to experiment with his rotations and paired the two centers together.
The two big men shared the court for the first time this season for just 7 minutes in the fourth quarter, but it was the most productive pairing of any two players the Pacers have put on the court this season. The two were paired with Jeff Teague, Glenn Robinson III, and Aaron Brooks.
The two big men shared the court for the first time this season for just 7 minutes in the fourth quarter, but it was the most productive pairing of any two players the Pacers have put on the court this season.
The result was an impressive run for the Pacers as they closed the gap to 13 points and put Indiana in striking distance. The Pacers couldn’t close the deal as the return of Damian Lillard and Maurice Harkless into the game slowed Indiana’s advance, but those seven minutes gave us an intriguing glimpse of a possible pairing in the future.
When I say it was the post productive pairing for Indiana this season, that refers to the two-man pairing stats from NBA.com, and in particular their net rating. They had a 28.1 net rating (126.6 offensive, 98.5 defensive), meaning they would outscore Portland by 28 points per 100 possessions, or roughly a normal game.
It also is a case of small sample sizes, as we’re comparing 7 minutes in one game against the NBA’s worst defense to any pairing of two players on the season as a whole. So this isn’t to say this is a solution to one of the Pacers problems as much as it is to say this pairing is at least worth revisiting.
However, a concern for this experiment might be that Turner didn’t do much — scoring-wise — but did rack up a rebound, assist, and a block. Teague, Robinson III, and Brooks combined for 3 of 6 from the field (and Teague was 4 of 4 from the free throw line) while Turner didn’t take a single attempt. Jefferson was 2 of 2 with Turner on the floor and was in the midst of his modest fourth quarter where he went 4 of 4.
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The team’s overall results were great during this stretch, but I’d like to see if there was a way to spread the court out with Myles taking some mid-range attempts. Putting C.J. Miles on the floor as well could stretch things out for Jefferson as well. Glenn Robinson III’s confident play and shooting helps spread the floor as well.
Jefferson isn’t the best defender, but Myles’ defense can help cover that up. The defense of this group — the five-man unit — is a concern even with Turner on the floor due to the fact the bench’s defense has been terrible this season. That’s the danger of looking at a unique new — but very small — part of the season and hope that the Pacers have found something special.
We’re only talking about a seven-minute stretch and comparing it to the rest of the season, but I’d like to see the pairing of Jefferson and Turner a few more times to see if there is something more to this lineup.
Next: Paul George Looks to Get Back to Being The Guy for the Pacers
No matter if a Jefferson-Turner duo is viable or not, and perhaps it was really Brooks, Teague, and Robinson who fueled the run, but here is to Pacers’ fans hoping Jefferson found his way in Indiana.