The Indiana Pacers opened up their season on Wednesday night with a massive win over the Washington Wizards, picking up a 143-120 victory in dominant fashion.
Indiana’s offense was out in full swing, as they absolutely picked apart a Wizards team that many expect to finish toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
Everyone played their part, putting up solid numbers for a Pacers squad looking to make a playoff push. And if that’s the goal, then this was a great start.
Following a huge win in their season opener, with a giant scoreline to boot, let’s take a look at two studs and one dud from the Pacers’ win over the Wizards. Honorable mention goes to Tyrese Haliburton, who was super awesome, but he’s expected to be super awesome.
Stud – Andrew Nembhard
Andrew Nembhard missed the majority of the Pacers’ preseason slate after getting a kidney stone removed, but he came back in their preseason finale and played well.
Luckily for Indiana, his solid play carried over to the season opener, as the second-year guard was absolutely incredible in his stint off the bench against the Wizards.
Nembhard played 21:36 off the bench for the Pacers and put up 12 points, four rebounds, and 10 assists while shooting 6-of-9 from the field. He absolutely picked apart the Wizards defense.
He and Haliburton combined to drop 21 assists on the night, contributing to a 38-assist performance for the Pacers. If this is what second-year Nembhard looks like, Pacers fans should be hyped.
Dud – Jarace Walker/Jordan Nwora
Let’s get one thing clear: There were no real duds in this game.
This was about as dominant a performance as the Indiana Pacers could have possibly put on for their fans, and it led to a massive win against the Washington Wizards.
And as is often the case with blowout wins, there was some garbage time at the end of the game. That’s when rookie Jarace Walker and Jordan Nwora got their minutes in.
Against the Wizards, Nwora played 6:00 while Walker played 5:41, but neither played particularly well in the time they got on the floor toward the end of the contest.
Nwora finished the game with five points on 2-of-7 shooting from the floor and 1-of-2 shooting from deep, while Walker ended with zero points on 0-of-5 shooting overall and 0-of-1 shooting from distance.
Again, there are no real duds from this game, as both players just played in garbage time, but it would have been nice to see them carry over the same level of play that the starters and bench guys brought to the table.
And since the article involves discusses studs AND duds, they’ll unfortunately have to fall under the latter category.
Stud – Bruce Brown
Over the summer, the Indiana Pacers made one of the biggest splashes in free agency, signing Bruce Brown to a two-year, $45 million contract (with a team option in the second season).
Many saw the move as a risk, as Brown was primarily a role player last season, though he did play a major role for the Denver Nuggets en route to their first championship in franchise history.
Well, in his first game with the Pacers, he showed off why the team gave him his huge contract. He played extremely well against the Washington Wizards.
Brown finished the game with 24 points, three rebounds, one assist, and one steal while shooting an impressive 8-of-11 from the floor and 6-of-8 from beyond the three-point arc.
His three-point shooting will be a key to his success in Indiana, and while he may not take eight threes per contest, shooting a good percentage will be crucial this season.
Seeing Brown out there on the floor with Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner, and the rest of the squad was fun, especially with how well he played.
Moving forward, the Indiana Pacers will undoubtedly hope Brown can keep up this pace, and we’ll have to see if that’s the case moving forward.