INDIANAPOLIS — In his pre-game press conference before the Pacers‘ third preseason game of the year and first at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, coach Rick Carlisle bristled at the idea that he had settled on a starting lineup.
His first two starting fives didn’t give any indication that he was waffling, however. He had two different starting centers, but Myles Turner is the established starter and he simply got the night off on Oct. 10. His starting point guard in those games — T.J. McConnell — will not be the starting point guard, but there’s no debate about who will be. All-Star Tyrese Haliburton was simply being given some time off after a busy summer that included his first U.S. Senior National Team experience in the FIBA World Cup. Shooting guard, small forward and power forward were the positions up for debate in the offseason. Bruce Brown, Bennedict Mathurin and Obi Toppin got the start in each of those games and played with Haliburton and Turner in Saturday’s Fan Jam event.
All the signs seemed to be pointing in one direction, but Carlisle said Brown, Mathurin and Toppin should at least get some run with Haliburton, the cornerstone of the franchise before anyone anoints them starters. Brown and Toppin are new to the Pacers after Brown was acquired from the Nuggets in free agency and Toppin from the Knicks in a trade, both in July. Mathurin got work with Haliburton as a rookie last year, but he mostly operated as the Pacers’ sixth man.
“There’s a presumptive starting lineup,” Carlisle said with notable sarcasm. “It’s just that. It’s presumptive. I’m very interested to see how they play (Monday), how hard, how together, how connected. It’s gonna be a very important thing to watch. It’s not a foregone conclusion that that will be our starting group. … Until you put Tyrese Haliburton out there, I mean, what are we really talking about here? It’s no knock on T.J. McConnell, but Ty is our franchise player. He’s the guy these guys need to play with.”
On Monday night they did play with him and they did play hard, together and connected. Along with Buddy Hield, who played extensive minutes with the rest of the group in the second quarter with Brown on the bench, they were the driving force behind an overwhelming first half that put the Pacers on the path to a 116-112 win over the Hawks for their first preseason win in 2023-24. They played fast, they shared the basketball, and they showed there are many ways they can enhance each other’s games.
Haliburton finished with 15 points, eight assists and was +14 when he was on the floor, including +22 in the first half. Brown, Mathurin, Toppin and Turner combined to score 37 points on 14 of 23 shooting (60.9%). Hield finished with 11 points on 3 of 9 shooting, but hit his first 3-pointer after an early drought and dished out three of his five assists in the second quarter, in which the Pacers outscored Atlanta 43-15 to take a 73-46 lead into halftime.
When Haliburton, Hield and Mathurin checked in with 6:38 to go in the second quarter, the Pacers led 48-40 and the Hawks immediately scored to cut the deficit to six. Indiana then went on a 25-4 run to end the half.
They had some issues with foul trouble — Turner and Mathurin committed 10 combined and Turner played just over 15 minutes before fouling out — but they defended better than expected and were every bit as potent on offense as expected.
“Generally, without looking at the film, we had a lot of positives,” Carlisle said. “… I have a strong belief in that group offensively. Defensively, it’s just the fouls are something we have to get better with.”
Offensively, the group operated in Haliburton’s unselfish but uptempo image. The Pacers posted assists on 36 of their 42 field goals. Haliburton had eight and McConnell nine with the second unit off the bench, but it was notable that Brown (4 assists), Mathurin (4) and Hield (5) combined for 13. Mathurin averaged just 1.5 per game last season as a hard-charging rookie, but he clearly enjoyed getting in the act, throwing an alley-oop to Toppin on a fast-break.
With the ball popping and everybody looking for reasons to push the pace, the Pacers posted 22 fast-break points to the Hawks’ eight.
“I like the way we were able to play as fast as we did,” Turner said. “I think it’s a staple of our offense, just getting up and down and letting Tyrese create. Obviously, having him back was big as well. I like the way we operated on the offensive side of things.”
Haliburton acknowledged that the Pacers took advantage of some conditions that might not be present when the Pacers play real games. The Hawks sat three of their best players in guards Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, and big man Clint Capela. For another, they were aggressive on defense in such a way that allowed for some easy drives and dishes around the rim.
“The ball was moving well,” Haliburton said. “Their defense was dramatizing a little in terms of how much they were in the gap and stuff because they’re obviously working on things. With the way their defense is, you know you’re going to be playing a lot of two-on-one, because there’s a heavy nail (presence near the middle of the free throw line). I thought we did a good job a majority of the time.”
Still, there were clear signs of how the starters — and Hield — could help each other as the season progresses. Brown clearly saw his life improve with the introduction of Haliburton to the lineup. After missing all seven of his 3-pointers in the preseason’s first two games, he made his first when Haliburton found him in rhythm on a swing pass at the top of the key in the first quarter. He then hit his second when Haliburton brought the ball up the floor, sucked in two defenders as he broke to the free throw line and kicked it back to Brown, who seemed almost shocked with how wide open he was.
Meanwhile Toppin and Turner got a sense of how they could play off each other in ball screen actions with Haliburton. Both are effective as screeners whether they decide to roll or pop, but whichever one is not involved in the action can also earn opportunities by spacing out to the corner and either sucking the defense that way or taking advantage of collapses by hitting corner 3s. Turner hit a career-high 93 3-pointers last season at a 37.3% clip, and Toppin hit 85, making 34.4% of his attempts.
Just over a minute in to the first half, Toppin set a screen for Haliburton just to the right of the top of the key and quickly slipped to the basket while Turner faded from the right block into the right corner. Haliburton was double-teamed as he dribbled to his left while Turner’s man, center Onyeka Okungwu, tagged to meet Toppin at the rim. Haliburton noticed and whipped a pass to the open Turner in the right corner for an easy 3.
In the third quarter, Turner hit another 3 from the left corner when Toppin twice screened, then rolled, first for Haliburton, then for Brown, who ended up getting the assist.
Toppin hit one 3-pointer which also came from the corner. Though that came when the ball was swung from Haliburton to Brown to him, he could easily find offense when Turner rolls the same way Turner did.
“The fact that both of them shoot the ball well, easily and well, is an important fact because it creates some havoc for defenses,” Carlisle said. “That’s a positive.”
And Haliburton sees it becoming even more positive as all parties get used to each other and run play after play and action after action together in practice and games. At this point, he noted, Toppin is still getting used to having a 5 man who can and will space the floor as opposed to the Knicks bigs, who generally hung around the rim.
“The more time you spend together and the more months, it will be better,” Haliburton said. “Every team in the NBA does 5-on-0 every day from here until April, May, June. It takes time, but it’s been fun, and that process every year is always fun to learn. This is what does work, this is what doesn’t work. It’s an interesting process.”
It will also be an interesting process to see how the Pacers balance the potency of their first unit with defense. Turner is one of the best shot blockers in the NBA, Brown is one of the best perimeter defenders, and Haliburton’s through-the-roof basketball IQ makes him excellent off-the-ball when it comes to getting in passing lanes and getting deflections and steals. However, Haliburton isn’t as good on-the-ball and though Mathurin and Toppin have some physical characteristics of good defenders, they are, to put it kindly, unproven on that end. So if this is the starting lineup, they’ll only have one truly trustworthy perimeter defender in a league in which most of the best teams have at least two excellent perimeter scorers. And if and when they pull Brown for Hield to go all out on offense, there will be a significant defensive trade-off for bringing in one of the league’s best shooters, as defense has long been considered Hield’s weakness.
Still, it’s a group that can play a fun brand of basketball and put points on the board, and they can be even better if they can defend at all.
Originally posted on indystar.com