Concerning signs for the Pacers pairing of Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner

The duo and the Pacers defense

By the numbers, the defense with Turner and Sabonis on wasn’t as catastrophic as the offense. However, these two big men are not a seamless fit on defense and most of their issues stem from Sabonis’ lack of mobility and athleticism.

In a vacuum, Sabonis is a fine defender. He has size, IQ as a team defender and enough nimbleness to survive on the perimeter in a pinch. In one on one situations, he isn’t horrible as a switch defender. This contest is as good as it gets on Kyrie Irving:

When Gordon Hayward rears his head and looks to attack Sabonis head on, he doesn’t back down and isn’t flustered. He moves his feet, bumps Hayward and forces a difficult floater to miss:

Sabonis’ biggest struggles on the perimeter come when teams repeatedly attack him and force him to close out. This comes in pick and roll defense, hedging and closing out to shooters. His lack of lateral movement speed allows offensive players to burn him off of the dribble and he’s too slow to offer strong close outs on many occasions:

Contrast those last clips with this one of Myles Turner. Watch how fast and fluid he is flying around the court on defenses, rotating down before sprinting out to the shooter and contesting into a miss:

Turner’s development as a switch defender is invaluable and is the only way the Turner and Sabonis pairing can likely function in the playoffs.

The Pacers will risk stationing Sabonis on a traditional big and Turner on a wing or a four, trusting him to do an adequate job on the perimeter. Even when Brown beats Turner initially, his newfound agility lets Turner recover and block this shot:

The prognostication for Turner and Sabonis coexisting on defense remains negative for me. Given Sabonis’ (and Turner’s) limitations, it is difficult to see them surviving on defense late in the playoffs.

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When Sabonis comes on and Thad Young comes off, the difference in defensive prowess is glaring and opposing offenses take advantage of this. Sabonis is young and can improve, but I’m doubtful if his impact as a full-time defender in the playoffs.

It would be rash to come to any definitive conclusion after one playoff series against a far better roster without a fully healthy roster.

Turner and Sabonis are both young and have plenty of time to improve their games and their chemistry playing together. However, it is reasonable to question whether their long-term fit is conducive to playoff success.

With an important offseason looming for Kevin Pritchard, he may feel inclined to move one of the two bigs for a player who better fits in the playoffs. Even though Turner and Sabonis’ effectiveness could increase with schematic changes, I am skeptical of Nate McMillan’s willingness to radically alter his offense.

The Celtics series left us with plenty of answers about the Domantas Sabonis-Myles Turner frontcourt and just as many questions. Whether we will see these two share the floor in the playoffs again is yet to be seen.