by Raegan Walsh
The Indiana Pacers’ three-game losing streak was snapped Sunday night when they swatted away the Charlotte Hornets with a wire-to-wire 115-99 victory.
Indiana was led in the win by Pascal Siakam’s 25 points on 11-of-20 shooting from the floor. His near triple-double was rounded out with nine assists and eight rebounds.
Aaron Nesmith racked up 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, including three made 3-pointers on five attempts, to go along with eight rebounds and four assists. Tyrese Haliburton totaled 17 points on the night, while Myles Turner contributed 16 points.
For the first time this season, Indiana held an opponent to less than 100 total points. Charlotte was just 39.8 percent (35-of-88) from the floor.
FIRST QUARTER
Indiana completed its first three field goal attempts after winning the tip and set themselves up to go on an eventual 9-0 scoring run. Aaron Nesmith, the second-best 3-point shooter in the league, drained a trey that put Indiana’s first points on the board.
A fadeaway jumper from Siakam and a goal tending call on Charlotte the possession after put Indiana ahead 7-0, just after a little over a minute into play. The Hornets failed to convert in their first five possessions of the matchup, but eventually earned their first point from a made free throw by Brandon Miller that made the score to 9-1.
“We had a good start to the game on both ends,” Head Coach Rick Carlisle said. “A 9-0 start is a great way to start on the road. They’re starting to get real synergy.”
The Hornets scored five uncontested points in the next minute, but Haliburton stopped that run with a jumper at 7:53 to send Indiana into a forced Charlotte timeout leading 11-5.
Despite only making four of 12 attempts from the floor during this five-and-a-half-minute stretch, Indiana propelled itself to a 13-point lead at the 2:14 mark when Jalen Smith closed off a 3-point play by draining his free throw. Charlotte followed the play with a completed dunk on the other end of the floor, but Bennedict Mathurin soon responded with a 3-point play of his own to give Indiana a 25-11 lead.
Indiana took a 15-point lead at the 1:03 minute mark, but two made free throws from Miles Bridges cut the Pacers’ lead to 13 points, giving them a 26-13 lead at the conclusion of the first frame.
Haliburton was the leading scorer for Indiana after the first half of play after scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor. Siakam followed with 11 points, nine of which were racked up in the first quarter.
Indiana struggled with its own shooting percentage (46.5 percent) in the first half, but Charlotte had challenges of its own, only shooting 36.2 percent. The Hornets shot 5-of-25 in the first quarter, allowing the Blue and Gold to hold Charlotte to the fewest points allowed in a first quarter by any opponent this season.
SECOND QUARTER
The Pacers opened the second frame by completing their first two field goal attempts, thanks to a pair of layups from T.J. McConnell and Jalen Smith. Despite P.J. Washington’s two uncontested layups of his own that cut the Charlotte deficit to 11 points two minutes into the frame, a 3-pointer from Buddy Hield stretched Indiana out ahead again to a 14-point advantage.
A Charlotte 6-0 scoring run cut the Pacers’ lead to single digits, 33-25, for the first time since 3:52 in the first frame. Though Indiana struggled shooting in the opening five minutes of the second quarter, it maintained its quick offensive pace.
A no-look pass from Haliburton at the 3-point line found Myles Turner perfectly in the lane as he threw up a floater and was fouled on the way up. Turner made the adjoining free throw, putting Indiana ahead, 37-25, at the 6:49 mark. This 3-point play was part of a quick 5-0 scoring run that gave the Pacers a 15-point lead for the third time in the half.
A layup and free throw from Nesmith at 3:51 put a 6-2 Hornets scoring run to an abrupt stop to keep Charlotte from coming any closer to the lead than eight points. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Tyrese Haliburton extended the Indiana lead to 15 points yet again at 2:26.
Indiana only made one bucket in the remaining two minutes of the first half but still kept Charlotte 11 points away from the lead as the second frame ended with the Pacers ahead, 55-44.
THIRD QUARTER
Charlotte came out of the locker room with a vengeance, scoring 10 points in the first two and a half minutes. Within three and a half minutes of play, a 15-8 Hornets scoring run brought the Pacers’ lead to just four points at 8:33.
“”Our second unit had a great thing going in the second quarter, and then things went a little haywire,” Carlisle said. “We took some risks and had a couple of untimely turnovers… but we maintained the lead, got the job done.”
However, the Hornets’ spark would be diffused when Indiana put itself back ahead to a comfortable 10-point advantage with the help of six uncontested points. This eventual 15-2 scoring run over the next two minutes was capped off with a breakaway dunk from Haliburton that put the Pacers ahead 17 points, 78-61.
Indiana continued to steamroll ahead, extending its scoring run to 28-8. A Smith 3-pointer at 3:44 gave the Blue & Gold a dominating lead of 24 points.
The Hornets continued to hang in thanks to Miller’s 17 third quarter points. Charlotte responded to the Pacers’ breakaway stint with a 9-0 scoring run that allowed it to get within 15 points of the lead as the third quarter ended.
FOURTH QUARTER
Two quick buckets from Charlotte cut a once 24-point Indiana lead to just 10 points roughly a minute and a half into the final frame. This eventual 21-9 run, started at the 2:05 minute mark in the third quarter, brought Charlotte within 10 points at the 7:08 minute mark in the fourth quarter.
A Nesmith dunk at 5:36 capped off a short 7-0 scoring run that put the Pacers ahead once again by 17-points, 105-88. Indiana and Charlotte went bucket-for-bucket over the next roughly four minutes and the Pacers maintained a 111-95 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the matchup.
For Charlotte, Miller led all scorers with a career-high 35 points on 10-of-25 shooting from the floor and 10-of-12 shooting from the charity stripe. P.J. Washington followed behind with 22 points off the bench on 9-of-16 from the floor, and Bridges contributed 19 points.
Inside the Numbers
Indiana’s leading scorer, Pascal Siakam, recorded a near triple-double with 25 points, nine assists and eight rebounds.
The Pacers outscored Charlotte 60-52 in the paint.
Indiana pulled down a total of 49 rebounds and dished out 34 assists.
Indiana held the lead for the entirety of the game.
The Pacers’ reserves outscored Charlotte’s, 35-26.
Tyrese Haliburton and Aaron Nesmith each racked up 3-pointers a piece on five attempts.
You Can Quote Me On That
“It’s a group that’s starting to really feel each other, how to play with each other. Pascal is getting more immersed in what we’re doing, the play calls that we do call, how he fits into that kind of stuff… Pascal just always seems to float into his scoring opportunities.” – Carlisle on Siakam fitting into the team
“I thought we did a good job with everybody having a lot of attention to detail, shootaround was really good this morning, good attentiveness. I thought we approached this game the right way. We want to go into the All-Star Break on a high.” – Haliburton on morning adjustments
“These guys are starting to realize if they rebound, they’re going to stay on the floor. Pretty simple. These are actions and behaviors that we need. If guys aren’t going to rebound, they’re not going to play.” – Carlisle on rebounding
“I just gotta find early opportunities to get him the ball in space. He’s tough for anybody to guard in space.” – Haliburton on Siakam
“Obviously we did a little bit better today. We’ve been struggling with it lately so we gotta all come together and just fight for boards and make better decisions on offense, which I thought we did well today.” – Siakam on rebounding
“We came in this morning and we were pretty firm about our transgressions in the Sacramento game and the New York game. Against New York, we didn’t rebound and against Sacramento we were throwing the ball all over the place. And tonight, we rebounded. Our ball security was good. There were stretches we weren’t making shots but we were still controlling the tempo of the game because we were defending and rebounding.” – Carlisle on the team’s defense
Stat of the Night
For the first time this season, the Indiana defense held its opponent to under 100 total points. The Hornets shot just 39.8 percent (35-of-88) from the floor. In addition, Indiana held Charlotte to 13 points in the first quarter, which is the lowest number of first quarter points Indiana has allowed an opponent this season.
Noteworthy
- Indiana now leads the season series with the Hornets, 2-1. The teams will meet again in Charlotte Feb. 12 for the last game between the two teams this season.
- The Pacers now own a 74-53 all-time record over the Hornets, with Indiana currently on a two-game win streak in the series.
- The Blue & Gold are now 12-13 on the road this season.
Tickets
The Pacers return to Gainbridge Fieldhouse to host Alperen Sengun and the Houston Rockets on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at 7:00 PM ET.
Originally posted on pacers.com