by Jordan Morey
In late-night hoops action in the Pacific Northwest, a new-look Indiana Pacers squad couldn’t muster a comeback on the second leg of a back-to-back.
All-Star forward Pascal Siakam made his Pacers debut on Friday after getting traded to the organization two days prior, but the Portland Trail Blazers (12-29) outlasted Indiana (24-18) 118-115 at Moda Center. Indiana has lost 14 of their last 15 games in Portland and is now 1-7 on the second legs of back-to-backs this season.
The Pacers trailed by 11 points at halftime before chipping away to make it a three-point game with 17 seconds left. In the final moments, the Trail Blazers made enough free throws and got a key stop to hold on.
Portland dominated Indiana in the paint, outscoring the Pacers 66-25 and outrebounding the visitors 47-37.
Indiana’s No. 1 scoring bench struggled, getting outscored by Portland’s reserves 22-14 – a season-low for the Pacers’ second unit.
In the win, the Trail Blazers made just four shots from 3-point range, while the Pacers finished 20-for-47 from deep. Overall, Portland shot 50 percent to Indiana’s 42.9 percent.
The Trail Blazers also got it done from the free throw line, sinking 30-of-35, while the Pacers made 17-of-25 from the stripe.
Siakam fit right in with the Blue & Gold in his first game, logging 21 points (9-for-14 shooting), six rebounds, and three assists in 34 minutes of action.
Myles Turner led the Pacers with 29 points and 12 rebounds, Tyrese Haliburton had 21 points and 17 assists in his return from injury and Buddy Hield made six 3-pointers en route to 18 points, while also registering seven assists and six boards.
Jerami Grant led the Trail Blazers with 37 points across 43 minutes, and Malcolm Brogdon, a former Pacer, had a season-high 30 points (9-for-18 shooting, 10-for-10 free throws).
FIRST QUARTER
The Pacers rolled out the new starting lineup of Haliburton, Buddy Hield, Siakam, Aaron Nesmith and Turner on Friday.
Despite making just two 3-pointers in the first half, the Trail Blazers outscored the Pacers 40-12 in the paint in the opening 24 minutes to lead 64-53. Indiana made 11 treys in the first half.
The Pacers trailed 34-31 at the end of the first quarter even though they made eight 3-pointers.
Indiana hit its first four 3-point attempts – each by a different player – to lead 14-7 four minutes into the game.
Indiana then held the lead until a 13-2 run by Portland – where Scoot Henderson scored eight straight unanswered points – gave the Trail Blazers a 34-27 advantage with 35 seconds on the clock. A 3-pointer by Ben Sheppard and a Bennedict Mathurin free throw in the final 14 seconds made it a one-possession game.
SECOND QUARTER
A 7-0 Pacers run, where Turner completed an and-one and drained a 3-pointer, tied the game at 50 before a 10-3 Portland scoring spree put the Trail Blazers back ahead 50-43 with 5:23 left in the half, prompting an Indiana timeout.
Out of the mini-break, Siakam scored back-to-back baskets before Hield’s fourth 3-pointer of the night cut it to 56-52 with 2:22 on the clock. In the final two minutes of the half, however, the Trail Blazers closed it on an 8-2 run.
Indiana was outscored 40-12 in the paint in the first half.
THIRD QUARTER
Out of intermission, Siakam made back-to-back baskets to propel a 17-7 run, where Nesmith made two 3-pointers, Hield made his fifth trey and Haliburton completed an and-one to tie the game at 71 with 7:35 left in the third quarter.
After tying the score again at 75, Portland went on a 6-0 run and didn’t trail the remainder of the quarter, leading 88-81 going into the final frame.
FOURTH QUARTER
The Trail Blazers attacked the rim often to start the fourth quarter, getting in the bonus early and making their first eight attempts at the charity stripe to build a 101-91 advantage with eight minutes left.
From 6:01 to 3:45, the Pacers went on a 10-2 run where Turner hit two 3-pointers to cut it to 106-101 and force a Trail Blazers timeout.
Out of the break, the Trail Blazers answered nearly every basket until Haliburton scored five straight points to make it 116-110 with 1:22 remaining. The Pacers then got a stop and Turner drilled a 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining before Grant split free throws to make it a four-point game.
After a Portland stop and another single free throw, Turner eventually got a basket to go at the buzzer but it wasn’t enough.
The Pacers will conclude their six-game road trip on Sunday at the Phoenix Suns before hosting the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Inside the Numbers
Buddy Hield has made six or more 3-pointers in a game three times this season.
Tyrese Haliburton has recorded 15 or more assists in a game 11 times this season. He’s also recorded 27 double-doubles.
Myles Turner recorded his ninth double-double of the season. He also finished with a season-high five blocks.
Trail Blazers point guard Malcolm Brogdon scored 24+ points in both games against his former team this season.
There were four ties and four lead changes in the game.
Portland recorded a season-high 11 blocks.
Indiana won the fastbreak points margin 17-7.
All of the Pacers starters finished positive in the +/- while every bench player was in the negative.
Indiana had 13 turnovers to Portland’s 11 giveaways.
The Pacers were called for 26 fouls to Portland’s 21.
You Can Quote Me On That
“Tonight was a night where we needed nine or 10 guys to be pretty consistent. We just weren’t. We weren’t consistent enough.” – Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle on the loss
“They’re going to work well. Both guys played well here offensively. They both were significant pluses in the game. All that is going to work.” – Carlisle on Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam working together
“It’s a matter of playing with a level of presence at both ends. When the other team is shooting well over 50 percent, which they were in the first half, it’s hard to get momentum downhill with a bunch of aggressive, young guys who are sitting down guarding. When we got the ball into the paint, our numbers were much better than when we didn’t – but that’s any NBA game, any day of the week. Defensively is where we needed to be a lot better.” – Carlisle on the points in the paint disparity
Stat of the Night
The Pacers bench, which leads the NBA in scoring with an average of 50 points per game, scored a season-worst 14 points on Friday night.
Noteworthy
- All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton returned to the lineup on Friday from a hamstring strain that had sidelined him since Jan. 8. Aaron Nesmith also returned after missing three games due to a left tibialis anterior strain.
- The Pacers were without Isaiah Jackson (concussion) and Andrew Nembhard (thoracic spine sprain) on Friday night. Jackson’s injury occurred on Thursday at the Sacramento Kings, and Nembhard missed a second straight game.
Originally posted on pacers.com