Pacers Report Cards: Grading every Pacers player at season's end
By Mueez Azfar
Bennedict Mathurin
Stats: 59 Games, 26.1 MPG, 14.5 PPG, 4 RPG, 2 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 1.6 TOV, 2 FPG 44.6/37.4/82.1 Splits on 56.2% TS
2022-23 Stats: 78 Games, 28.5 MPG, 16.7 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 1.5 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 1.9 TOV, 2.1 FPG 43.4/32.3/82.8 Splits on 56.6% TS
With newfound expectations placed on him after a surprising rookie season, Bennedict Mathurin was expected to build upon that stellar campaign and blossom as a true second option next to Tyrese Haliburton. Even more so, with some projecting Indiana to make a playoff run this season, Mathurin was also expected to tone down his ice-cold streaks and become more consistent as time went on.
Did this happen? Well, kind of.
At times, Mathurin looked like a supercharged version of his rookie self, putting together fantastic stretches of great performances to lead Indiana to victory as their only source of offense at times. For example, in the 12-game stretch from December 28 to January 18, Mathurin averaged 18 points on 54% shooting and nearly 40% from deep, as Indiana enjoyed a nine-game winning streak, including the two signature wins against Milwaukee.
While Mathurin did have plenty of ice-cold shooting stretches, including an 11-game stretch from January 19 to February 12, where he averaged 11.4 points on 36% shooting and 32% from deep and Indiana went 5-6 as a result, he did a good job keeping those performances at bay most of the time.
Mathurin's scoring outbursts were also undoubtedly helpful to the team, as Indiana went 21-5 in the 26 games where he scored 15 or more points and 4-10 in the 14 games where he scored less than 10. With this information, it is a known fact that Bennedict Mathurin is a very valuable piece to the Indiana Pacers, and would most likely be a great addition to their playoff attack against the Bucks.
Unfortunately, Mathurin will have to watch from the sidelines in this year's playoffs. After Indiana's 17-point win over Dallas on March 5, Mathurin was penciled in to miss the next few games and eventually was ruled out for the rest of the season due to shoulder injuries which required surgeries, ending his sophomore campaign with 59 games under his belt.
This is quite unfortunate, as Mathurin's half-court scoring and ability to take over games with hot streaks rivaled by few would be quite effective in the playoffs, where the game slows down and Indiana's historic transition offense would be game-planned for.
Surely, Indiana would rather have Mathurin on the floor for the start of the Bucks series rather than on the sidelines, but this will give him plenty of time to rest up for what should be a fantastic third season.
Overall, it was an up-and-down second season for Mathurin. He hit the sophomore slump pretty hard at times but recovered well and was putting together a solid stretch before injuries reared their ugly head. While there is still plenty to be desired on his part, namely defense and ball stopping, based on what we saw this season, he still gets a good grade and hopes for the future are high.