On the "turning" point that should be a critical point

And why Indiana's star guard didn't star during the fourth quarter

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Over the final 6:55 of Game 1, when the starters for the Knicks were supposed to have run out of gas, it was the first unit for the Pacers who seemingly lost their verve, getting outscored 24-17, as Jalen Brunson nearly outscored Indiana all by himself (14). Maybe those numbers would look different if not for a few controversial calls? After all, the officials have already acknowledged that it was not a kick-ball on Aaron Nesmith with 52.1 seconds left to play. That's unfortunate, to be sure, but there was also 94-foot drives from Josh Hart, needless gambles in transition, a missed box-out following a missed free throw, a non-rotation up from the corner on what became the go-ahead three from Donte DiVincenzo, and a dead-ball foul. Refereeing aside, there was plenty that could be controlled by the Pacers, which wasn't exactly controlled by the Pacers. Meanwhile, the team's star, Tyrese Haliburton, didn't exactly star during crunch-time, as he more so orbited around the play of others, attempting to reshape the defense from afar while being held scoreless and committing three turnovers without attempting a single shot.

As such, rather than auditing every call or non-call from this game, which sounds about as miserable as relying on officials to win in the playoffs, there should arguably be more focus -- especially as it pertains to the rest of this series -- on why Haliburton, who has been listed as questionable with back spasms the last few games, was so scantly involved.

In that regard, the evolution of these late-game possessions, featuring "turn" screens, are telling as a turning point in that, well, there wasn't actually a turning point. For frame of reference, when Haliburton gets face-guarded, one of the ways the Pacers will shake him loose from his shadow is by screening him into a hand-off at the top of the key with the corner man cutting up through the middle to set the pindown screen, as Bruce Brown can be seen demonstrating here.

The advantage of that approach is that it creates separation for Haliburton ahead of the screen, prying open a window for him to actually get the ball and scan the defense. Notably, the Magic ended up switching in that example, and while Haliburton initially moved the ball ahead against the switch, he also later attacked it out of the ghost screen and eventual boomerang pass from Obi Toppin, powering himself all the way to the rim.

Of course, that was then, way back in the middle of November (albeit against a top defense); and this is the playoffs, when teams are geared up to know the other team's pet plays and counters. That's why, although it got papered over by the commotion from Aaron Nesmith's thunderous dunk, what was a turn screen against the Magic turned into a split action versus the Knicks, with Haliburton circling out to the corner and pointing for the ball to go to Nesmith against Brunson.

A few minutes later, it seemed as though the Pacers were trying to go to that action again, but the timing was slightly off and, quite frankly, so was Haliburton. Granted, Turner isn't at the top of the key to run the hand-off, which might explain why Haliburton initially turns down the turn screen, but he also rejects it on the second approach, holding space on the perimeter for Nembhard to operate at the controls in what was a tied game with less than six minutes to play.

And, here's the thing: Nembhard wasn't being guarded by Brunson. Earlier in the game, as was also the case against Damian Lillard in the first round, there was reason for the Pacers to tweak some of their plays in favor of tilting the offense toward Nembhard. For example, normally this wing-to-wing cut from Nembhard into an empty ball screen would progress into a pass back for Haliburton to attack out of middle pick-and-roll; however, with Haliburton oftentimes being denied away from the ball, the play has now since morphed into a double-drag for Nembhard.

That makes sense for two reasons: 1) Haliburton occupies the help at the nail, and 2) It forces Brunson, like Lillard, to have to guard through two off-ball screens, a rejected empty ball screen, and two staggered on-ball screens. But again, Brunson wasn't guarding Nembhard during the fourth quarter, as he was there. And yet, there was Haliburton, turning down the turn screens while basically operating as a decoy.

Hmm.

A few minutes later, the Pacers tried to trigger the same action out of a sideline out of bounds play, but the sight lines were better for the Knicks. Rather than potentially being surprised by the turn screen coming up out of the middle of the floor, DiVincenzo was staring straight at Nesmith as the inbounds passer and saw the screen coming, chasing over the pindown to blow up the hand-off.

Then, when the Knicks committed two defenders to the ball on the hand-off into the ball screen in the opposite direction, Haliburton quickly got off the ball -- which is also what he spent most of the first quarter doing against switches. To that point, remember how he got to the rim against old friend Goga Bitadze? It didn't even seem as though that was a consideration here, as he passed the ball ahead three separate times, after not being able to launch into his righty step-back three.

Tellingly, when the offense started to stall, Siakam not only attempted to blur in front of the ball to gain traction for Haliburton by ghosting the switch; he also blatantly grabbed Isaiah Hartenstein's arm in an effort to forcibly remove the switch (see, this is why ref analysis isn't fun!), and the result, while also admittedly involving O.G. Anunoby in the action, was still, well, the result.

Again, this is very hmm. And the "hmm" also extended to the defensive end of the floor, where he could be seen playing drop coverage, as opposed to his typical quick show, while standing way too straight up and not holding long enough with the ball.

Needless to say, if this is a player who is currently functioning with his full range of motion, neither he nor the game-plan, with Nembhard doing more of the steering, is exactly showing it. Whether only slightly hunched on defense and not executing his usual coverages or being used as a decoy and aggressively denied while turning down turn screens (except for earlier against the blitz), the Pacers either need more from Haliburton or they're going to need to do more for Haliburton. As in, if the goal is to grease the wheels for him to get downhill out of this pet play, which they refer to as "slice," with an off-ball screen for the ball-screener connected to a back-screen into a hand-off, then maybe don't throw a wrench into it by positioning Siakam in the ball-side corner, where Anunoby can pounce?

Typically, Siakam is the player who gets screened into the back-screen in that play. It's possible the change had to do with the fact that Nesmith was being guarded by Brunson at this point, but Brunson wasn't switching on screens when he was defending the first screener anyway. And that's where the Pacers may need to make a choice, either maximizing the spacing around what appears to be at least a somewhat stiff version of Haliburton or leaning more heavily into Siakam, who found some success going to work against his old teammate.

At any rate, the Pacers can't undo a kicked ball that was never kicked, but they can control how much control Haliburton has on the ball and whether his current status means that should be less with more or more with less. Either way, if the starters are going to be preserved in an attempt to out stamina the Knicks, then as the series progresses, when one starting five is supposed to be fresher than the other, what wasn't a "turning" point in this game needs to be a critical point in those that follow: whatever the balance, the answer shouldn't be less with less.