Bennedict Mathurin brings the ruckus as sixth man

On the contrast in amplification between the third-year guard and the defense in what initially seemed like a difficult game to get up for in Cleveland

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Starting out a bit ambling and somewhat aimless before ultimately providing a spark of both intensity and intrigue, it was a possession that mirrored what was an even more difficult than usual preseason game to assess. With the Pacers opening with their now (seemingly) cemented first five against a Cavs team that was down by all of their starters other than Jarrett Allen, Bennedict Mathurin made his first appearance at the 6:38 mark of the first quarter, entering in a staggered rotation alongside T.J. McConnell, Obi Toppin, and eventually Jarace Walker, while also getting reps in hybrid lineups that included Tyrese Haliburton. Midway through the second quarter, when one of those mixed groupings was on the floor, Haliburton attempted to squeeze a pass to Myles Turner through a tight window. After getting knocked loose, the ball eventually found its way into the hands of Mathurin and stayed in the hands of Mathurin, as he proceeded to show why he so often emerged as the winner of 1-on-1 drills at training camp. Rather than tossing the ball to an open Aaron Nesmith in the corner, he opted to turn the court into his own action film, escaping from a narrow scrape with the intent of sizing up the defense and using a physical last step to save the day in the nick of time as the shot-clock was about to expire.

That's what he does -- he brings the ruckus. Granted, the stage was definitely set for him to play the part of sharp object against Cleveland's paper-thin rotation; however, after being out since March, it was no less encouraging to see him cutting his teeth with numerous plays that prompt the urge to grit one's teeth, as he alternated between exploiting the switch pocket from deep and swashbuckling his way through contact. On the whole, if punctuation was a player, while the flow of his game may not always contain a semicolon, connecting one play to the next, Mathurin can certainly provide some emphatic exclamation points as sixth man -- at times, perhaps, even standing out with the loudness of his silence.

Just take a look at this possession from the first half. As was pointed out during the offseason in this write-up about the potential benefits of unfamiliar alignments and tweaking certain actions for two players to converge and diverge from the same corner, notice how Mathurin perfectly syncs his mad dash to the opposite side of the floor with Walker's curl cut to the basket. In so doing, he's stressing the defense, momentarily turning the low-man into a spinning buffer symbol, as he forces his defender to choose between tagging on the potential lob or chasing him through the exit screen from Pascal Siakam at the block.

In that way, quietness, as it pertains to respacing the floor and actively pursuing the best shot for the team away from the ball, can be just as much of a strength as the force he brings with the ball.

That said, in the same manner that the skeleton crew for the Cavs seemed to wake up the beast in Mathurin with regard to overwhelming opposing benches, there seemed to be an equal but opposite somnambulating effect at the other end of the floor, especially to start the game. For lack of better terms, the "hope" here is that the Pacers were either bored or, maybe, overconfident against a depleted team. Otherwise, there were a lot of plays from both Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner that were, quite frankly, difficult to explain.

As in, why is Siakam giving up a blowby drive even when he's hanging back from Isaac Okoro? Likewise, why is Okoro so easily able to dislodge him, clearing space while rolling to the basket, despite the fact that Siakam is the bigger player?

Also, is this supposed to be a next coverage, in which Siakam would jump-switch onto the ball with Haliburton peeling off to Okoro? Or, is Siakam just being really heavy-handed with the help?

At the opposite end of the spectrum, if he's going to be pulled over this far from the corners to tag as the low-man, which seems to be more of an emphasis given how often he's been heard yelling out "I'm low" through these two games, then there needs to be more intention, as this is bordering on, well, playing both sides of the border, especially with Myles Turner looking out of tune with his coverage at the level of the screen in his first tune-up after returning from injury.

Notably, the Pacers switched Turner onto Okoro as the roamer; and again, Okoro scored as the roll-man against a bigger player. (As a side note, this is part of the reason why there was a post published here about the skepticism of deploying roaming bigs. This is bad defense, but teams are getting too effective at stationing low-usage wings and guards as screeners, too). Moreover, the other impact of assigning one or the other of them to Okoro is that Haliburton was more often defending at the point of attack. In the past, when the Cavs have been fully healthy, Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard have taken on Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland, with Turner defending Evan Mobley, Hield (or whoever the fifth starter has been) switching on screens against Jarrett Allen, and Haliburton playing aerial ace against Okoro, who later became Max Strus. As such, some of those above clips are complicated by the fact that, because Haliburton was shoehorned into matching up with various ball-handlers, the Pacers weren't going to fully switch out, which likely would've been more suitable for Siakam.

It wasn't all negative. Haliburton was active and disruptive with his length away from the ball, and when he chased over and was able to veer-back on double ball screens, they managed to make do with him being loud and demonstrative with his communication.

Additionally, as was suggested in last month's mailbag, they also mixed in some zone for the first time in over a year, stationing Haliburton at the bottom to mitigate for his screen navigation and how often he gets called into action while also providing an unexpected curveball.

Of course, the downside of potentially making themselves even more vulnerable on the glass was quickly made apparent, but this is what preseason should be for, testing out ideas and working off the rust while playing deep into the bench and seeing who, if anyone, pops. In that regard, the Pacers arguably checked off all three boxes, as Enrique Freeman overflowed with energy in front of his friends and family in Ohio up and until he was forced to exit due to cramping in his leg.

There was some confusion about what lanes to fill in transition when the Akron product was at the four in lineups with James Wiseman, who also made quick work of inhaling rebounds, but that position change allowed Freeman to demonstrate his reaction speed as a secondary rim protector, which (sigh) was missing at times with the other bigs on the roster. In many ways, Freeman is like a bigger version of Ben Sheppard, always moving and always playing full tilt while valuing possession of the ball and finding ways to involve himself even when he isn't involved.

As Rick Carlisle said of Freeman prior to the game, "When he comes in the game, you're going to notice it right away."

Not unlike the ambling possession that saw Mathurin finish with a flourish, Freeman also brought the ruckus to the final frame. Moving forward, when the games matter or at least are more evenly matched in terms of talent and availability, the question is whether the same can be said of the Pacers, as a whole, at the other end of the floor, where it will likewise also be noticeable "right away" and loud -- for worse and, hopefully, better.