Indiana Pacers: Player grades from the loss against the Wizards

The Indiana Pacers simply cannot catch a break. After dropping their season opener in an embarrassing fashion, they once again faltered in overtime against the Bradley Beal-less Washington Wizards en route to a 135-134 loss as they drop to 0-2 to begin their campaign.

Despite the Wizards missing their alpha guy, the game eventually became a shootout, with both teams shooting north of 52 percent from the floor. Alas, Washington shot a blistering 50 percent on threes, converting 19 of their 38 tries from downtown while the Pacers made 15 of their 34 three-point attempts.

Washington claimed a double-digit lead in the third quarter, but Indiana stormed back in the final frame, leading by as much as six points before Spencer Dinwiddie sent the game to overtime, where the Pacers led once more by six before crumbling down at the finish line.

Myles Turner paced the Blue and Gold with a career-high 40 points, including five triples, 10 boards and three blocks. Domantas Sabonis and Malcolm Brogdon both tallied near triple-doubles with the former logging 28/9/7 and the latter registering 28/8/8 in a losing effort. Dinwiddie (34/6/9) and Kyle Kuzma (26/11) led the Wizards as they move to 2-0.

Before the Indiana Pacers move towards the second leg of their back-to-back, here are the player grades from their loss against Washington, starting with their clear standout.

Myles Turner clearly stood out for the Indiana Pacers against the Wizards

After somewhat struggling with his shot in the season opener, Myles Turner had some sort of a breakout game of his own against the Wizards, finishing the game with 40 markers, easily trumping his previous career-high of 31 points set five years ago.

Capitalizing on his undersized counterparts, Turner scored from all over the floor, expertly finding great position in the first frame, where he already managed to rack up 16 points. His flow never seemed to stagnate throughout the entire game, swishing five out his nine three-point attempts, including this deep one, where he looked like Ryan Anderson for a bit:

If Myles manages to be nearly as assertive on offense on a nightly basis, then the Pacers would be able to maximize their usual size advantage, especially as they open games with their traditional double-big lineup. With his monstrous game, Turner joined an elite company.

Grade: A+

Player grades for the Indiana Pacers starters

Domantas Sabonis: A-

Domas remained solid in his second game, tallying 28 points, nine rebounds and seven assists on 10-13 shooting from the floor, including two of four on triples. He did manage to beat out his Wizards defenders, but struggled a bit closing out on the perimeter.

Malcolm Brogdon: A-

Like Sabonis, Brogdon logged a near triple-double with 28 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. He was big in the fourth quarter, where he continuously punished Washington’s smaller guards in his rim drives.

Chris Duarte: B-

After a sensational debut, the rookie slowed down a bit, finishing with 15 points, converting six out of 16 field goals. He missed some open and crucial treys and committed some turnovers in crunch time, but coach Rick Carlisle clearly trusts him, as he played the most minutes for the Pacers. Some growing pains for the talented scorer, perhaps.

Justin Holiday: C-

Holiday remained looking iffy on his second game back from a relatively long injury-caused layoff, ending with a team-worst -15 rating. Numbers don’t define him, but his active defense still hasn’t returned while his shot remained so-so.

Player grades for the Indiana Pacers bench

TJ McConnell: C+

TJ did TJ things and ended with TJ numbers, save for that atypical three-point make. While he did enjoy significant minutes, his sparky play was quite missing and his defense on Dinwiddie didn’t seem to affect the latter.

Torrey Craig: D+

After an early foul trouble, Craig failed to establish rhythm not only with his shot, but also on defense, failing to sink both of his triples and getting blown by at one occasion.

Jeremy Lamb: C

Jeremy Lamb finished with a surprisingly team-best +18, but his sporadic defense remained painstakingly difficult to watch. While his offense improved from the last game, his nine points failed to move the needle much, if at all, especially with his still-robust minutes, which is certainly unwarranted at this point.

Oshae Brissett: INC

Coach Carlisle said he wanted to expand the rotation, but only really gave Brissett a quick run due to Craig’s foul troubles. His only box score entry was a personal foul in almost eight minutes.

Brad Wanamaker: INC

Cameo appearance? That will be the pattern for him all season long as the Indiana Pacers’ third string PG.