July 12, 2023
11:35 PM EDT
At some point, most visitors see their winning streaks come to an end in Las Vegas.
The Indiana Pacers (2-1) trailed by double digits early, shooting 23.8 percent in the first quarter, and never led in the final three quarters as they were dealt a 98-87 loss by the Oklahoma City Thunder (2-1) at Cox Pavilion on Wednesday in Summer League action.
Two Pacers picks from this year’s draft showed out for the Blue & Gold. Jarace Walker, the eighth overall selection from Houston, finished with 20 points and nine rebounds and Isaiah Wong, the 55th pick from Miami, compiled 17 points (3-for-6 3-point) and four assists.
Four players scored 18 or more points for the Thunder. Chet Holmgren, the second overall pick in the 2022 draft, led the way for OKC with 25 points, nine rebounds and five blocks while Ousmane Dieng totaled 22 points to go with nine boards and six assists.
A new Pacers starting lineup struggled to get in synch early on.
The Blue & Gold played without second-year guards Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard, as well as third-year big Isaiah Jackson, who have been shut down for the summer after putting together a pair of solid performances.
With the trio of returning players out of the starting lineup, Walker played a variety of roles for the Pacers including point guard during the game as opposed to just at the forward position.
“I’ve been telling people all along that he’s a very versatile player,” Pacers Summer League coach Jannero Pargo said of Walker. “He’s really comfortable with the ball in his hands playing pick-and-roll. With those other guys out, we wanted to exploit that and take a look at it.”
For Wong, it also was a Summer League-best outing from a minutes and statistics perspective.
“I’m just trying to play my hardest,” Wong said. “Coach is just telling me to play my game and get the other players involved. I was trying to do that and lead us to a ‘W.’ We came up short today, and I feel like that’s just a learning process for me and hopefully the team, too.”
In the first quarter, the Pacers trailed 20-13 after shooting 5-for-21 from the field (1-for-6 3-point), while seven different players scored for the Thunder.
After staying within three points in the first five minutes of play, the Thunder outscored the Pacers 8-2 in the final 3:48 of the period. Indiana didn’t score a field goal in the final 4:31 of the first quarter.
Despite Ethan Thompson and Eli Brooks each draining treys for the Pacers to start the second quarter, the Thunder responded with a trio of 3-pointers, including two from Dieng, to stay ahead at 35-23 with six minutes left in the half.
While Wong drained two 3-pointers and Walker added one from deep in the final two minutes, the Thunder answered every basket down the stretch to lead 50-39.
Walker and Wong both had 10 points at the break for the Pacers and Dieng led the Thunder with 14 points.
From 8:09 to 6:29 in the third quarter, the Pacers outscored the Thunder 10-4 to cut it to 58-48, thanks to six points from second-year forward Kendall Brown.
Indiana then strung together a 9-0 scoring spree, sparked by an Eli Brooks 3-pointer, to narrow the Thunder advantage to five points. However, a 6-0 OKC run helped the Thunder stay ahead 72-63 going into the fourth quarter.
Robert Woodard III drained a 3-pointer for the Pacers to open the fourth quarter, but the Thunder responded with eight unanswered points. From there, the Blue & Gold never got closer than 10 points the remainder of the game.
Pargo said he was more pleased with the communication on defense and ball movement on offense in the second half of play after the slow start.
“Offensively, (we were) just not generating good shots,” Pargo said. “I think we kind of got stuck in playing too much one-on-one; not moving the ball and not finding the open man. Defensively, just communication, playing hard. On the defensive, we had a lot of guys that hadn’t played in the last four days, so fatigue was kind of a factor. Through it all, I thought they battled. We didn’t lay down and give up.”
Overall, the Pacers shot 33-for-87 (12-for-38) while the Thunder went 40-for-76 (6-for-24 3-point). Both teams struggled from the free throw line, as the Pacers finished 9-for-19 and the Thunder shot 12-for-18 from the charity stripe.
The Pacers will next take on the Dallas Mavericks on Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET.
Originally posted on nba.com