Boom! Pacers’ Bennedict Mathurin is back baby!

The Pacers lost to the Bucks on Friday night. The sky is blue. And water is wet. Some things are inevitable, especially when you are missing your best player. However, there were some incredibly encouraging things from the game against the Bucks.

Mathurin was off to a hot start this season, immediately becoming a contender for rookie of the year and winning early season rookie awards. However, prior to Haliburton’s injury, Mathurin’s production had begun to stale a bit.

This has immediately turned around in recent games with Mathurin’s production again taking flight, and if it continues, will put him right back in the discussion for rookie of the years. His recent stats are:

Bennedict Mathurin against Bucks: 21 points, 8 rebounds, 50% FG, 25% FG3

Bennedict Mathurin last 10 games: 19 points, 5 rebounds, 42% FG, 25% FG3

While these are GOAT-type numbers, they are certainly eye-popping for a rookie player coming off of the bench. There are some nights where Mathurin is getting less than 30 minutes of play time, but still producing starter like numbers.

But it’s not only the numbers that seem to have returned, it’s the confidence and driving that we saw early in the season that seems to be returning. It appears that the fire is back in Mathurin’s eyes during the games.

Other things worth noting from the game

• The Pacers continue to have no answers for guarding elite power forwards. While Giannis was going to have a game against anybody, allowing him to get 41 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 assists on 55% FG is unacceptable. The Pacers will need to answer this problem before they will compete for anything.
• Myles Turner continues to look like a man on a mission. He scored 24 points with 5 rebounds on 50% FG. While he isn’t and never will be equivalent to Giannis, he was and has been recently the best player on the floor for the Pacers. Perhaps they can agree to an extension that works for both parties with all that extra cap space.
• The Pacers continue to miss Haliburton. If his recent absence has taught us anything, it’s that Haliburton is incredibly vital to the entire operation in Indiana. Without him, this team, even with fight, is unable to win games.

The Pacers take on Grizzlies next on Sunday.