By Wheat Hotchkiss
Game Recap
The Pacers entered Friday’s In-Season Tournament game with a simple mission: beat the Detroit Pistons at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in their final Group Play game to secure homecourt advantage for the Quarterfinals of the upcoming Knockout Rounds.
It seemed easy enough on paper against a Pistons team that entered Friday’s contest having lost 12 straight games. But Detroit made it difficult, hanging tough for most of the night and even leading in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter.
Nonetheless, the Pacers took care of business down the stretch, closing the game with a 32-9 run to a 136-113 victory.
With the victory, the Pacers (9-6) went a perfect 4-0 in Group Play and are now guaranteed to finish as one of the top two seeds in the Eastern Conference. That means Indiana will host a Quarterfinal game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on either Dec. 4 or 5. The exact date and opponent for that contest will be determined following the conclusion of Group Play on Tuesday.
“It’s significant,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “It really is. It guarantees us one of the top two spots…We do know that we’ll be hosting the first Knockout game here at Gainbridge. That’s enormous for our team, for the organization, for our ownership, for our fans. That’s going to be another opportunity for us.”
Indiana trailed Detroit (2-14) 106-104 with under nine minutes to play when Myles Turner tied the game with a hook shot. On the other end, Turner blocked Alec Burks’ 3-point attempt. Obi Toppin then knocked down a go-ahead three. A minute later, Andrew Nembhard intercepted a Jaden Ivey pass and threw it ahead to Bruce Brown, who threw down a vicious right-hand tomahawk dunk.
A short while later, Mathurin ripped the ball away from Ivey on the right wing to trigger another fastbreak. He wound up missing a layup, but Turner was trailing right behind him and completed an easy putback slam to stretch the Pacers’ lead to 115-108.
Carlisle let the five-man group of Nembhard, Brown, Mathurin, Toppin, and Turner largely close the game as they continued to build the lead. Haliburton subbed in for Toppin with 3:01 remaining and provided the exclamation point with a three and a breakaway slam in the final minute.
Haliburton and Turner both recorded double-doubles to lead seven Pacers in double figures in the victory.
Haliburton had been questionable for Friday’s contest with a sprained right wrist and played with it heavily taped, but the All-Star guard still managed to tally a team-high 26 points and 10 assists, going 5-for-13 from 3-point range.
Turner added 23 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocks.
The 6-11 center got going early for the Blue & Gold on Friday. Turner scored Indiana’s first nine points to power the Pacers to an early five-point lead.
Detroit responded with a 15-5 run to surge in front. The Pistons held the lead for a couple minutes before the Pacers locked down defensively.
Indiana held Detroit without a point from 4:47 remaining in the opening quarter until Killian Hayes’ jumper with 37.5 seconds to play in the frame. The Pacers scored 13 points over that span — five from Jalen Smith and four from Isaiah Jackson — while getting a stop on eight straight defensive possessions.
Thanks to that stretch, the Pacers took a 33-26 lead into the second quarter.
Haliburton electrified the crowd midway through the ensuing frame with back-to-back 3-pointers. The All-Star guard’s first trey came at the 6:51 mark, but it was what he did on the next possession that sent the fans into a frenzy. From the right wing, Haliburton unleashed a crossover that sent rookie Pistons forward Ausar Thompson into a stumble. Haliburton waited calmly as Thompson slid backwards, then knocked down the uncontested three, and skipped back up the court.
That put Indiana up 52-40, but the Pistons answered with a 14-4 run to get right back into the contest.
The visitors eventually moved in front a few minutes later on Ivey’s layup with 1:43 remaining. Buddy Hield answered with a layup of his own on the other end — two of his 12 points in the second quarter. But Cade Cunningham drew a foul on a 3-point attempt with 10.2 seconds remaining and made all three free throws to put Detroit up 63-61 at the intermission.
The Pacers retook the lead early in the third quarter thanks to a 10-0 run that featured 3-pointers from both Obi Toppin and Haliburton.
Indiana remained in front for the remainder of the quarter behind strong performances from Haliburton — who scored 11 points in the frame — and Mathurin, who came off the bench midway through the quarter and tallied eight points.
The Pacers led for the final nine-plus minutes of the third quarter, but weren’t able to create much separation. Burks’ 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the frame made it just a 97-96 lead entering the fourth.
The two teams traded the lead six times in the first four-plus minutes of the final frame before the Blue & Gold surged ahead for good. A big reason why the Pacers were able to pull away was the play of Brown and Nembhard, who locked down Cunningham in the fourth quarter to help lead the defensive effort.
“We started being more physical, picking up Cade early,” Brown said. “Me and Drew, we switched off on him a little bit.”
Carlisle traced the effort on that end back to a conversation he had with Brown before the start of the third quarter.
“At halftime I said to Bruce, about a minute-and-a-half before the half started, I said, ‘This is why we brought you to Indiana,” Carlisle recalled. “‘You’ve got to do a (great) job on Cunningham. You’ve just got to make it difficult.’ He and Nembhard made it really difficult. The guy had nine (of his 31) points in the second half and that was a big key to the game.”
Hield finished with 18 points in the win, Mathurin added 15 off the bench, while Toppin also tallied 15 going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. Nembhard — back on the court after missing the past three games with a sore lower back — scored nine of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and also dished out four assists. Brown was his usual solid self, contributing 10 points, four rebounds, and five assists.
Cunningham led all scorers with 31 points and had five assists, going 10-for-26 from the field and 9-for-9 from the free throw line. Ivey added 25 points for Detroit, while Jalen Duren recorded a double-double off the bench with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
The Pacers will host Portland on Monday before heading to Miami for a two-game road trip later next week, their final games before the Quarterfinals.
Inside the Numbers
Haliburton recorded his third straight double-double and his 12th in 14 games this season.
Turner posted his fourth double-double of the season and set a new season high with five blocks. All 10 of his rebounds came in the second half.
Hield had another strong outing in his third game in the starting lineup. After tallying 55 points and going 13-for-18 from 3-point range over his past two games, he scored 18 points and went 3-for-6 from beyond the arc.
The Pacers once again outscored their opponent significantly from 3-point range. Indiana went 16-for-38 (42.1 percent). The Pistons shot it almost as well, but a much lower volume, going 7-for-18 (38.9 percent).
With Aaron Nesmith missing his second straight game with a sprained right wrist, third-year big man Isaiah Jackson was in the rotation and highly productive off the bench. Jackson finished with eight points, six rebounds, and three blocks in 19 minutes.
You Can Quote Me On That
“It’s important to get home court. We’re excited about that so we don’t have to travel. Don’t know who it’s going to be against, but excited to have kind of that first postseason feel. Hopefully we get more of that moving forward. But I’m really excited about it and can’t wait to be a part of the Quarterfinals.” -Haliburton going 4-0 in the group
“It’s obviously not the playoffs, but they’re playoff feel, playoff-like games. Us getting this experience early, being such a young group, is so important…Being battle-tested early so you’re ready for that type of physicality and that type of style of play near the end of the year. It’s big time.” -Turner on the In-Season Tournament experience
“It was more of mentality that we locked in. Obviously, either winning or losing this game would determine if we had homecourt advantage or not (in the Knockout Rounds). Also we wanted to go 4-0 in this tournament. It’s the first time ever in history.” -Smith on the Pacers’ motivation on Friday
“Our bench defensively was unreal out there. Nembhard and Bruce playing with Drew is as good as we’ve got with defense in the backcourt. And I thought Mathurin was terrific. It looked like a replay of the Milwaukee game (where he had several big defensive stops in the fourth quarter to seal a win).” -Carlisle on the defensive effort
“I thought Bruce was really good. We changed a little bit and denied full court which we’ve also done against other guys like Trae (Young) a couple years ago. It’s exactly why Bruce was brought here, to defend at a level like that. I thought he did a really good job.” -Haliburton on Brown’s defense on Cunningham
“Mathurin had another great game. It’s been an up-and-down start for him, but as I’ve continued to communicate with him, this year is not last year…It’s harder. Teams are coming at us…Tonight, he went in the game with force and a level of determination that was really key in this victory.” -Carlisle on Mathurin’s impact
“I was mad, bro, I’m not going to lie…Just sitting out the whole game and seeing positions where I could help, once I got out there I just told myself to go, just unleash.” -Turner on having a big fourth quarter after battling foul trouble earlier in the night
“I can play both positions (power forward and center). Any position you put me in, I’m going to try my best to succeed at it and do whatever I can do to help the team win. Obviously we all know what Isaiah can do and how much effort he brings to the team. It was just about time that it happened.” -Smith on playing alongside Jackson
“Honestly, I was impressed. I think that they both know their role (and) they both play their role very well. Zay (Jackson) is just so vocal and Stix (Smith) can obviously play inside out. Defensively, that’s where I’ve seen the grown on both of their parts. We all know Zay can block shots, now they’re moving their feet, they’re out guarding guards. Being two-way players is so important in this league and what’s going to really help them grow.” -Turner on Jackson and Smith playing together in the frontcourt
Stat of the Night
The Pacers outscored Detroit 39-17 in the fourth quarter on Friday. They held the Pistons to 6-of-17 shooting (35.3 percent) in the frame, including 0-for-4 from 3-point range, and also forced six turnovers.
Noteworthy
- Hield surpassed 9,000 career points with his first basket on Friday. Just 15 games into his eighth NBA season, he currently ranks 66th in career scoring among active players.
- Carlisle picked up his 250th win as head coach of the Pacers on Friday, tying him with Frank Vogel for the most coaching wins in NBA franchise history. Carlisle and Vogel trail Hall of Famer Slick Leonard, who is the overall franchise record holder with 529 career wins across the ABA and NBA.
- The Pacers once again played a home game on the Friday after Thanksgiving, a traditional slot on the schedule. They have won four straight and nine of their last 10 contests on “Gold Friday.”
Up Next
The Pacers will host Malcolm Brogdon and the Portland Trail Blazers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Monday, Nov. 27
Originally posted on pacers.com