Why the Pacers keep missing the cut

The Blue & Gold looked more like themselves in Memphis, for reasons both good and bad

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

With all of the focus on the up-and-down pace for the Pacers, the fact that they've fallen off the pace in keeping pace on defense has fallen somewhat under-the-radar. According to Cleaning the Glass, Indiana has allowed 135.0 points per 100 transition plays this season, which ranks 28th in the league and is down from 130.2 last season, when they ranked 23rd. In Sunday's 136-121 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, they gave up 176.9 points per 100 transition plays, which while (shockingly) not a season-worst is still, well, not good.

Similar to the game at-large, though, which saw a 19-point lead turn into a 15-point loss, many of those plays were precipitated by something good. In fact, they gave up six transition possessions following a made shot. For frame of reference, the Pacers normally give up 2.0 transition possessions per game following a made field-goal, which ranks 27th in the league. So, at 3X their average, this was a lot, even by their standards.

In that sense, they weren't exactly walking in Memphis, but possessions like this, when they load to the ball with a numbers advantage only to sleepily give up a cut without anyone back to the protect the rim in lineups without a rim protector are becoming increasingly difficult to explain.

That's a shame, because here's what happened before the defense was in a shambles. With Ja Morant walling up at the nail to prevent Tyrese Haliburton from getting downhill, T.J. McConnell took a page from the action that caused them all types of consternation against Miami and tested the stunt with a baked-in 45-cut from the wing to the basket, which forced help from the ball-side corner for an open three.

With Andrew Nembhard back in action after missing the last 12 games, playing off Haliburton's gravity with multiple ball-handlers on the floor was a common theme in this game, at times, with some wild, albeit favorable, results.

Here, Haliburton isn't even in frame for a large portion of the possession, as Jaylen Wells has eyes for him and only for him. Notably, as Haliburton backs toward half-court for the rest of the team to play four-on-four, Turner somehow doesn't notice that he's being guarded by Ja Morant. Rather than diving toward the block, the big man turns to screen away for Haliburton. Meanwhile, Nembhard drives from the corner against Jaren Jackson Jr. and kicks to Siakam, who draws a double against the smaller Desmond Bane. At long last, with Nembhard, Siakam and Mathurin effectively playing 3-on-3, Mathurin eventually ends up with an open three out of the double team.

While certainly a roundabout way of getting there, that's an upgrade from when the same 4-on-4 strategy, which has it's strategic merits (especially as Haliburton's home/away shooting splits continue to be a thing), resulted in Mathurin throwing up a grenade against Giannis Antetokounmpo in Milwaukee.

Still, even as the Pacers made progress in taking advantage of the increased attention being paid to Haliburton, they too often followed up the good with the bad, be it getting back-cut in transition following a made shot or getting outscored 108-79 after putting up 45 points in the first quarter.

Turns out, while effort certainly played a part at times in transition and all too often on the whole this season, Memphis is also a very clever and strategic cutting team in the half-court, demonstrating why guarding in the NBA is hard, let alone when Andrew Nembhard is on a minutes restriction.

To understand why, watch how the Grizzlies attack the help-side defense during pick-and-roll. When the ball moves toward the two-man side (i.e. the side of the floor with players standing both at the wing and in the corner), they automatically employ a corner-to-dunker cut anytime a player is walling up at the nail. Granted, Walker could obviously stand to be more aware here rather than just standing; however, like the aforementioned 45-cut from McConnell, this movement still puts tons of stress on the nail help defender, regardless.

After all, even if Walker had stayed attached to the cutter, the cut still would've opened up that entire side of the floor for the player at the wing to drift into. At the very least, the nail defender (Jackson) is likely going to be in a long closeout situation, allowing the offense to react accordingly. Just ask Tyrese Haliburton.

Of course, since Brandon Clarke has shot 1-of-16 from three this season, this works out slightly more favorably, as Turner effectively plays a one-man zone in the paint, taking the cutter while Haliburton rotates up to the wing rather than relying on Mathurin to both help at the nail and close to the corner.

Still, that was a deliberate strategy from the Grizzlies that showed up time and time again, especially when Nembhard wasn't defending at the point of attack to require less help. Here, when Walker gives up the screen rejection, Memphis employs the corner to dunker cut again, which further exploits the emergency rotation while requiring Walker to peel off to the corner.

That shot didn't go down, as the Pacers were trailing by double figures in the fourth quarter, but the point nonetheless stands as to the challenges of neutralizing the pick-and-roll while also staying cognizant of cutting concepts.

It's possible Nembhard will (ahem) help in that regard as he regains his conditioning, just as he also made an initial impact as an additional ball-handler. For the most part, even when he gives up cuts, he tends to process where and when to scramble very quickly, making the next right rotation.

That said, the fact that he too also needed to scramble, goes to why, if there often isn't going to be right answers for how the Pacers can corral penetration while also accounting for off-ball movement that's intended to remove and manipulate the help, they can't be among the league's leaders in giving up transition possessions following a made basket.

For the most part, the Pacers have a lot of weak links to protect in the half-court along with a lingering roster hole against bigger wings in a league where there should arguably be more coverage with explanations like this of why playing defense is hard as opposed to automatically presuming that defense is bad, but they can control for playing with energy, whether not wasting energy in getting back or not getting back cut when the cuts are merely opportunistic when a back is needlessly turned.

The good news is, in jumping out (and running) to an early lead that once again saw Obi Toppin acting as a bellwether for last season's playstyle, the Pacers looked more like themselves on offense, even as Haliburton drew extra attention. The bad news is, in losing the lead, they also looked very much like themselves on defense, providing a strangely comforting yet ultimately still disappointing return to the familiar.