When things were going bad for the Indiana Pacers, Wesley Matthews stepped up to save the day.
Wesley Matthews joined the Indiana Pacers in mid-February, and things looked great… at first. Then the Indiana Pacers schedule got hard and the losses started piling on.
The Pacers had lost 5 of their last 8 games and things were starting to look rough. To make matters worse, Paul Geroge and the Thunder were in town. On the surface, that’s a tough game since the Thunder are a strong squad. Underneath, this game had drama and increased difficulty since PG was back in town.
With the Pacers reeling, most predicted an Indiana loss, albeit a close one with the team playing in front of a home crowd. The first half results did not agree with that assessment, though. After 24 minutes, Oklahoma City was up 13. They were clicking. Indiana was not.
In the early 3rd quarter, that continued. The Thunder grew their lead to 19 with 7:18 to go in the 3rd frame, establishing a lead that felt insurmountable given the way the teams were playing. A 73-54 score after roughly 30 minutes showed how well the Thunder’s offense was playing and how poorly Indiana’s defense was performing. It was looking like a miserable night for the Pacers conglomerate.
Domantas Sabonis would check in about 30 seconds later and turn things around. He played one of his best games of the season, scoring 26 points and grabbing 7 rebounds. The Pacers were a +14 with him on the floor, more than double the next best +/- figure of another player on the Pacers.
With Sabonis in the game, the Pacers cut the lead all the way down to 5 with about 10 minutes to go. But his magic couldn’t last forever, and the Thunder finally put together a short burst of good play and grew their lead to 11 with 6:27 to go. Sabonis played incredibly well, but he couldn’t quite do enough to play the role of hero. Things looked bleak. At this point in the game.
Enter Wesley Matthews. Literally. He checked into the game right after the Thunder regained a double-digit lead.
Matthews had played fine for the first 3.5 quarter of the game. He played adequate defense and had scored 8 points on slightly below average efficiency. Most people hope for more from him, but that’s fine. Thankfully, his night would not be remembered by “fine”.
He checked in and immediately made an impact on the scoreboard, burying a 3:
After this Matthews shot cut the Pacers lead to 8, Paul George missed a 3 on the other end. Remember that statement, as it will become a theme down the stretch almost as frequently as a Wesley Matthews make.
The Thunder extended the lead a bit to 9 over the next half minute, but Matthews stepped up again to keep the Pacers in the game:
Matthews had started to heat up, which is about the best thing you can hear as a Pacers fan. He is one of the streakiest players I can remember wearing the blue and gold. When he’s on, he is incredibly hard to stop. At this moment, he was on.
On the next possession down the floor, the Pacers had a transition opportunity. Matthews caught the ball with a somewhat open look, but the Thunder sold out to prevent the red-hot veteran from shooting. He calmly flipped the ball to Bogdanovic in the corner, who hit a three to cut the lead to 3. Indiana was right back in it.
That was a summation of the impact Matthews was having. Something was clicking for him, and each and every possession he was making a positive play. This is why the team signed him. This is why he was so demanded on the buyout market.
Oh, and guess what happened on the next Thunder possession? A PG missed 3.
Sabonis hit 2 free throws to get the Pacers within 1 a few moments later. The free throws came off of a flagrant foul, so the Pacers kept the ball. On said possession, Matthews missed a turnaround jumper. It was his final miss, and final negative play, of the night.
The teams battled for the next 2 minutes and 20 seconds, and with a shade under 1 minute to go, it was tied. The Thunder had the ball, which gave them an advantage. But the Pacers had an impassioned Wes Matthews, which gave them a bigger advantage. He shut down PG in an embarrassing fashion:
The Thunder would get it back, but PG in the clutch in BLF is not a historically good combo. That trend continued:
Two turnovers for PG set the Indiana Pacers up with a chance to take the lead very late in the game. A certain player had already hit 2 threes and played fantastic defense in the last 5 minutes of basketball. it was only appropriate that player would be the man to step up at the end.
Wesley Matthews did it one more time:
The passion you hear in the voices of Chris Denari and Quinn Buckner was perfect for the moment. The game felt over, in OKC’s favor, in the mid 3rd quarter. Then the game felt over in the mid 4th quarter. But it wasn’t. Wesley Matthews wore down PG on one end and buried shots on the other. He was massive and pulled the Pacers to victory.
Unsurprisingly, Matthews received an “A” grade for his sensational performance in the clutch. The vet plays from the Indiana Pacers; late addition to the squad led the team to a win when they needed it most. It was a special performance on a special night.