Make that two in a row!
Following a resounding 152-111 win against the San Antonio Spurs, where they tied the team record for the most points in a game, the Indiana Pacers returned to action Wednesday against the Utah Jazz, led by Lauri Markkanen and not much else.
Coming into the game, the Jazz sat at a record of 2-6 and ranked among the worst teams in the NBA despite having a pretty fun and productive 2022-23 season. Because of this, the Pacers' chances of victory were relatively high going into the game, boosted by the fact that young center Walker Kessler would be out of action against Indiana.
With the loss of Kessler, the Pacers had one less big man to worry about as they invited the Jazz to town and took care of business at home, winning 134-118 in Gainsbridge Fieldhouse.
Going into the game, momentum was the key, as Pacers fans did not want to see a team that dropped 152 points just two days earlier get lazy and coast against a much inferior team.
Since this Pacers team has a reputation for getting lazy at times, especially in the third quarter, allowing worse teams to make the game close and even win, as we saw against the Charlotte Hornets, this Utah game was a test in my eyes.
It was a test to see whether the Pacers would play down to Utah's level and make the game closer than it should be or if they would take charge early and blow them out as they were supposed to.
What we got was a little bit of both sides, as the Jazz kept it close until the fourth quarter, taking advantage of a typical slow Pacers third quarter to enter the fourth only down three.
However, the fourth quarter was when the Pacers stopped playing games and put the Jazz away, scoring 33 points to Utah's 20 in the fourth and ultimately winning by 16 points and pushing their overall record for the season to 5-3, becoming one of only three Eastern Conference teams to have five or more wins to their name.
Watching this game, plenty of things stood out, as they do for every Pacers game. In total, I picked out four key points to bring up, as I believe these are key things to look out for going forward, including one that was a very nice surprise and one that could haunt the Pacers going forward, especially when playing teams such as the Jazz.
Positive: Scoring barrage continues in high volumes
At this point, it seems like Indiana's hot scoring start to the season is becoming less of a hot start and more of what this team really is. For the sixth time this season, the Pacers have scored over 120 points, and have passed the 130 mark for the third time this season.
Once again, six Pacers players scored in double figures, with five scoring above 15 points, including two players that we will talk about shortly.
The standout performance scoring-wise on the night came from an unlikely source, as Aaron Nesmith notched his second 20+ point game of the season, leading the team with 24 points on a fantastic 9/13 from the field and 4/6 from beyond the arc.
Nesmith has surprised everyone this season so far, coming out as a much improved offensive player from the previous year, putting up several solid scoring nights and at times being the only source of offense on the team, as his aggressive drives to the basket often lead to points or free throws.
Between Nesmith, Jalen Smith, and the struggling Buddy Hield, you may notice that half of Indiana's six double-digit scorers came from the bench, and that has been quite common so far in the season.
The Pacers scored 59 bench points on Wednesday compared to Utah's 37 points. In addition, Utah's highest bench scorers were Collin Sexton and Simon Fontecchio at 10 points each while the Pacers got the aforementioned 24 from Nesmith as well as 16 from Smith and 10 from Buddy Hield.
Currently, the Pacers are far and away the league leaders in bench points with 54.3 (second-place Washington is still almost eight points behind at 46.6). The Pacers have been managing their depth well, knowing that any player could have a big game at any time and understanding that they should share the wealth.
They are doing a good job at exactly that, as shown by their large scoring numbers in recent games. If the Pacers keep this type of play up, there is no reason why they cannot maintain a top-five offense for the rest of the season.
Positive: Tyrese Haliburton recovers from slow start
Speaking of players that can go off on any given night, Tyrese Haliburton certainly had an interesting game. Throughout the entire first half, Haliburton was not aggressive with the ball at all, only taking two shots and going into the second half with 0 points.
That is not to say that he didn't contribute at all, as he did have seven assists and three rebounds going into the half, but Haliburton's complete lack of shooting, let alone scoring, caused some Pacers fans to worry a bit about whether he would remain this passive for the rest of the night.
Haliburton would not go scoreless for long however, as he woke up in the third quarter to the tune of 14 points on 5/8 shooting to go along with three more assists, giving him his sixth double double of the season, good for third in the NBA.
Haliburton's third-quarter explosion further proves my statement from the last point that anyone on this Pacers team is liable to have a fantastic night, no matter how poorly they start or how many mouths need to be fed.
Perhaps Haliburton's passiveness was a reason the game was relatively close going into the third quarter, perhaps not. All I know is this: When Haliburton got his scoring back on track, the team kicked into a new gear that they do not usually enter and rode that momentum to a huge fourth quarter to capture the win for good.
Positive: Bennedict Mathurin is back
This was beautiful to see. After a pretty rough start to the season, which saw his playmaking improve plenty but at the expense of his scoring ability and defense, Bennedict Mathurin has seemed to finally put it all together in Wednesday's win over Utah.
On this night, Mathurin put up 22 points on 9/18 from the field and 4/7 from deep, grabbed nine rebounds, dished out four assists, and had two steals. This statline is far removed from what we have seen from him this season prior to the game, where he was only averaging 11 points on awful 40/23/80 splits.
Prior to the Jazz game, Mathurin was not getting as many shots as he would have liked, getting less than his rookie year when he primarily came off the bench and even playing fewer minutes as a starter than as a rookie when he was more of a sixth man.
However, everything seemed to click for the Montreal native on Wednesday, as Mathurin finally got a chance to play over 30 minutes for the first time in the season, playing a total of 38 minutes and getting the most shots on the team with 18.
As you can see, he clearly delivered and this performance has to feel good for him. As a young player still adjusting to the NBA life, Mathurin has to be confident in his abilities, and it is possible that this recent slump has affected his confidence to the point where he was getting in his own head.
On Wednesday, however, that confidence was on full display, as Mathurin not only pulled up from three at will but drove to the rim among the trees and finished with contact, despite not getting to the free throw line at all on the night, a rarity for a frequent foul drawer like him.
Regardless of the lack of free throws, a game like this is sure to do wonders for Mathurin's confidence going forward. Bennedict Mathurin has an All-Star ceiling, and Wednesday night was just him getting one step closer to realizing that.
He showed exactly why the Pacers drafted him, getting buckets and making it look easy with the confidence and skill he displayed during his rookie year while also showing the newfound playmaking and passing ability he has developed through the offseason. Mathurin made some clever reads that may not have all led to points, but they were nice to see him make anyway.
Hopefully we can look back at the Jazz game as the night Bennedict Mathurin turned it around and got out of his sophomore slump for good. Only time will tell.
Negative: Played down to competition
Even in a double-digit win, the Pacers still have the same problems that have haunted them for years, with the main one on Wednesday being how close the Jazz played them for the first three quarters.
Coming into the Pacers game, the Jazz were the 14th seed in the Western Conference with a record of 2-6, losing their games by an average margin of 15.5 points. The Jazz also had the 29th worst defensive rating in the league and were overall just a one-man show, with Lauri Markkanen doing most of the work, leading the team with 24 points per game.
Besides him, no other Jazz player was really stepping up in the scoring department, with the second-best scorer being John Collins at 14.8 per game and the third being Jordan Clarkson with 13.3 per game on abysmal 34/27/75 shooting splits.
However, judging from the first half, you would not be able to guess that the Jazz were the inferior team, as they kept pace with the Pacers and even had the lead for some chunks of the game, going up by as much as 10 in the first quarter.
Indy started the game hot, going on a 7-0 run and dominating the Jazz as they were expected to. However, Utah quickly retaliated, going on a 29-12 run of their own right after, to lead by 10 points with 2:39 left in the first, with Jordan Clarkson himself leading the charge, seemingly forgetting all about his terrible shooting going into the game and turning over a new leaf just in time to face the Pacers.
The Pacers ended the first quarter tied 29-29 and played much better in the second quarter to get a seven-point lead going into halftime despite a 10-point second quarter from Simone Fontecchio, of all people, the Jazz won the third quarter.
Clarkson once again put the team on his back to score 13 more points on 5/9 shooting as the Jazz outscored Indiana by four in the third. Luckily, the Pacers' defense tightened up in the fourth, holding Clarkson to 1/5 shooting while getting some scoring help from Aaron Nesmith himself en route to the eventual 16-point win.
While the final score is going to read a double-digit win for the Pacers, it is important to notice that the game was up for grabs until Indiana's barrage in the fourth quarter settled the night.
There is no reason they should have been in that close of a fight with the 2-6 Utah Jazz, who were missing their best defender in Walker Kessler at that. Keep in mind that Jordan Clarkson was playing awful before the Pacers game and somehow ended the night with 33 points.
Indiana's improved defense held Clarkson and Lauri Markkanen at bay in the fourth quarter. That is something they should have been doing all game, and it is very important for Indiana to know that.
The Pacers currently have the best offense in the NBA with a slowly improving defense, and to make the playoffs and make some noise in the East, they cannot be letting far inferior teams feel like they have a chance at victory.
Remember, it's the little things that come first, like beating the Jazz and Hornets, before you can go out and upset the Celtics or the Bucks, which the Pacers will be looking to do on Thursday as they finish their back-to-back as they welcome Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and the Milwaukee Bucks to Gainsbridge Fieldhouse.