Pacers Report Cards: Grading every Pacers player's Conference Finals performance
By Mueez Azfar
Isaiah Jackson
Stats: 4 Games, 10.5 MPG, 2.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1 BPG, 0.3 TOV, 0.8 FPG 36.4/0/50 Splits on 37.9% TS
Something of an unsung hero in the Knicks series due to his physicality and inside scoring, the hope was that Isaiah Jackson could bring some of that roughness to the Celtics series. With Kristaps Porzingis still being out, Jackson was expected to be the most physical big man on either team's roster and a beneficiary of Boston's lack of rim protection at the moment.
This would not be the case. Despite shooting 65% from the field in the New York series, Jackson's shooting regressed to around 36% against New York. This was without any outside shots being taken as well, as all 11 of Jackson's shot attempts in the series were inside the paint or restricted area, with the furthest shot not even reaching the dotted line.
If anything, the Boston series exposed the holes in Jackson's offensive games quite a bit. Most notably, Jackson still does not have a solid post-game. There were times when he got a mismatch like Payton Pritchard on him and did not take advantage whatsoever in the post. All in all, out of six shots he took in the restricted area, he only made half of them, which is not something you want from a 6-foot-10 center, especially one as athletic as Jackson.
Additionally, Jackson also developed a reputation for being a bit of a dirty player in this series. From his questionable box out of Sam Hauser where he hooked his arm to inadvertently kicking Payton Pritchard in the face in Game 4, it's pretty safe to say that Jackson doesn't have many friends in Boston after the Conference Finals.
Isaiah Jackson may have played himself into Indiana's rotation going forward, rendering Jalen Smith obsolete in the process, but this series showed that he still has a lot of work to do, especially with his inside game and discipline.