Debuts & Bad News

By: Samson Folk I @samfolkk

A reminder: Caitlin’s deep dive comes later. This is just supposed to hold you over. 

It’s all about weathering the storm in the playoffs. Basketball is a game of runs, yada-yada all that jazz, but you have to counterpunch. Damian Lillard threw a flurry of punches to open up the game. The Pacers pick n’ roll coverage against Lillard ceded driving lanes that he happily stepped into, and once the step-up screens/drag screens in transition started coming, it opened up space for him to walk into the vaunted pull-up triple that has defined his career to this point. The Bucks led by 9 after the first quarter, behind the strength of Lillard’s 19-point opening frame.

By the time 4 minutes had rolled off the clock in the 2nd quarter, the Pacers had already gone ten men deep and featured a lineup without either of Tyrese Haliburton or Pascal Siakam on the court (the Pacers shot 1-6 over this stretch). The Pacers had missed their first 12 triples (with a handful of airballs) and they’d botched a couple easy rolling opportunities – Turner forgetting to put the ball down and allowing the Bucks to track his steps, for example – while they were extremely reliant on Siakam’s shotmaking. He had scored over half their points while taking less than a third of their shots as the Pacers found themselves down by 20 points halfway through the second quarter. He was comfortable shooting over the Bucks as they built walls and flattened out, and he was comfortable putting the bigs in the mixer if they had to guard in too much space. The Pacers as a whole though, played with little intensity or intention. Whether it was Siakam doubling the ball as his man cut directly to the hoop (with no backside help) or the extremely confusing choices – made by a couple players – to climb over screens while chasing Lillard 45 feet away from the hoop; the Pacers were getting completely undone.

Rushed, scrambled offense ensued as a handful of players anointed themselves as shotmakers that they weren’t. The spells of a relative lack of danger that can plague the Pacers offense – where sometimes it seems like the system is expected to create advantages, not players – hit them hard. They were caught above the break, running feckless actions that go nowhere. Sitting across from those Pacers, was Bobby Portis who snapped off 8 points in a row – partially on the strength of deliberate post ups – and Lillard who finished the first half with 35 points - the most miraculous of which came as he stared Turner in the eye before pulling from 29 feet away. At the half, the Pacers trailed by 27, and they were losing the 3-point battle by 18 points. The first half was running on Dame Time, as he finished, by himself, 2 points shy of the Pacers first half total. Taking punches, never giving them. Eating haymakers, not even giving jabs back.

To start the 3rd quarter the jumpshooting started to swing a little more positively towards the Pacers as they went 3/6 to open the frame, including two triples from Nesmith and Turner. Defensively, they forced the Bucks firmly into the realm of the mid-range. 6 of the Bucks first 7 shots to start the second half came from there. For a time, the Bucks found their way into deep drives. Whether it was from Patrick Beverley or Khris Middleton, the Bucks were only a simple screen away from getting a paint touch. The obvious and most important wrinkle of the 3rd quarter, though? Picking Lillard up at full or ¾ court, and trapping him with the ball. The Bucks shot 7-21 overall and 2-5 inside the paint. The Pacers made the call to pressure the Bucks best player and protect the paint behind that. It worked wonders. Indiana won the quarter by 15 points (29-14) and they found something that worked. Haliburton was still stuck trying to navigate the more aggressive coverage the Bucks were throwing at him, but at the very least the Pacers let their defense and a Siakam + bench lineup lead them towards some winning minutes.

The biggest problem, of course, with letting the opposing team blast open a 30-point lead? When they open the 4th quarter canning 3 out of 4 triples? You can’t really eat that variance. The Pacers got their big defensive quarter where they played it right and they got shooting luck. It won’t stay that way forever. So, the Bucks extend their lead from 12 to 22 in pretty short order. A particularly frustrating moment? Haliburton takes Portis on a switch, gains no advantage, tries to screen into one, finds nothing, and eventually leaves his feet to turn the ball over. The Pacers were missing threes, and once again, getting stuck above the break on so many different actions. You can hold fast to 3-point variance and believe in this team's offense, but the pressure cooker of the playoffs and shorter timeframes makes that a lot tougher to stomach. Even when Haliburton took the blitz in stride and made the read to Turner, Turner traveled in space. That wasn’t the first time we saw Turner struggle to score or make a read with the court in front of him. Watching this elite offense slow to a trickle for a few long stretches in this game was tough.

When the Pacers traded for Siakam, I thought he would provide a great knuckleball and half-court herky-jerk offense that provided a healthy counter to teams that found a way to take away the Pacers favorite actions. I didn’t expect them to need him to this degree. He was sterling in his Pacers playoff debut: 36 points (a playoff best for him), 13 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks. An efficient night of scoring as well.

In the end, it wasn’t close to bringing the Pacers the win. It’s obvious that they need to shoot better than 20-percent from downtown; more than that, they have to provide more consistent stopping power, in addition to needing Turner to play with far more poise in the in between on offense. More than anything though, they need Haliburton to be the engine of their offense. 9 points and 8 assists is unacceptable volume. If this Bucks defense, given the defenders on the roster, can affect that sort of change without Tyrese punching back? This series is over already. Luckily, there’s a lot of miles left on this bad boy and Haliburton can hit the film room and try to figure things out.

We’ll see. Hope you enjoyed reading.

Have a blessed day.