How the Pacers got out of double trouble

at least for now

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

In a span of less than five minutes, the Pacers went from clinging to a narrow, four-point lead to building a commanding cushion, reeling off a 20-4 run en route to snapping what was a seven-game win streak for the Dallas Mavericks. Following the win, Rick Carlisle credited the all-bench lineup, featuring T.J. McConnell, Ben Sheppard, Doug McDermott, Obi Toppin, and Jalen Smith for showing wherewithal and fortitude amid a scoring run from Kyrie Irving:

"I think the key to the whole game was the fourth quarter when they got it to four, we called a timeout, and our guys who had been in the game responded with a 9-2 run that put the game back in our control," he explained of the timeout that was called with 8:42 to play after Irving had drilled consecutive jump-shots while being defended by McDermott. 

Rather than making substitutions, Carlisle stuck with that group, allowing the starters to rest easy for a few extra minutes, as Sheppard knocked down a pair of threes with Toppin also chipping in from deep before the first unit subbed in during a timeout that was then called by Dallas. In that sense, the ship got righted in a hurry; however, what arguably stood out even more, was how the starters stood out by comparison to themselves, pushing back on any potential waves on the end of the floor that has all too often been rocky this season.

To understand why, think back to how the Pacers were defending the post during preseason, when Jaren Jackson Jr. took four dribbles before turning over his shoulder to get to his strong hand without anyone digging at the ball or even pretending as though they might. 

For the most part, the Pacers largely stayed resistant to double-teaming, even to the point of staying the course with Haliburton getting bullied repeatedly by the Bulls or Giannis Antetokounmpo going off for 40+ points before making an adjustment, so as to limit three-point attempts and avoid putting themselves in rotation. That didn't change until they played the Toronto Raptors. Not far removed from a blowout loss to the Orlando Magic, who (at the time) were a precursor of sorts for the prior version of the Raptors in that they have size everywhere with a formidable defense but can go dry for long stretches in the half-court, the Pacers stopped feigning help, as they had done against Paolo Banchero, and fully committed to the player they would also later fully commit to in a trade. The only problem is, as a team that had rarely doubled the post, they looked every bit the part of a team that had rarely doubled the post, while also getting more than they bargained for from deep.

When the Pacers double, they typically double from the top and, more specifically, the post-entry passer so they can keep the corresponding rotations in front. That means Mathurin should be rotating from Otto Porter Jr. to Gary Trent Jr. -- not standing next to Jakob Poeltl.

Likewise, Turner was also late to release from Poeltl -- although he at least had reason to be guarding him in the first place.

And, at the other end of the spectrum, Buddy Hield was quick to rotate but also stunted away from the ball, as though Bruce Brown was only digging at the post-up and would recover instead of sprinting out, as he should have, to the furthest possible pass in the corner.

Put simply, it was a mess. Now, the Pacers no longer have to guard Siakam, but some of those issues with inattentiveness and crossed wires have persisted even as recently as earlier this month, when the Pacers lost to an undermanned Knicks team while forcing the ball out of Jalen Brunson's hands only for him to get it back with Aaron Nesmith guarding, well, no one.

As such, like a curtain that is pulled back to reveal a dramatic transformation, this is quite the contrast. Similar to Brunson, Luka Doncic is dribbling the ball into the post with a bully drive. The difference though is that Siakam, as the bottom defender, starts to show help at the midline, which causes him to turn back into the double from Nembhard. In effect, this is a live look at the Pacers rapidly processing how to be in help-side on a perimeter drive into defending post automatic action with the ball now behind them just outside the block.

In turn, when Nembhard commits to the double, Haliburton rotates how the Pacers should've against the Raptors all those months ago, arriving on time to Irving, with Turner following suit and communicating the cut to Siakam, who jumps out to the corner as Nembhard recovers to the dunker's spot. Then, when P.J. Washington attacks the aggressive closeout, Nembhard steps up to stop the drive, with Mathurin sliding over to cover the corner and Haliburton playing aerial ace. That's what defending on a string looks like. There's a place for everyone and everyone is in their place, operating in unison with all of the parts correlated instead of giving up so many holes that, on the whole, they amount to less than the sum of their parts.

Granted, it was only one possession, but the multiple efforts contained within it are reflective of a game that was won with multiple contributors, while also providing a divergence both from how those actions were defended in the past, as well as the level of urgency that was maintained, even with a sizable, late-game lead. On the next possession, Mathurin stayed in front of Irving, funneling the ball out to Josh Green for a missed three. And on the possession after that, Nembhard cut off Luka's driving angle, resulting in a pull-up two. At that point, after stringing together three consecutive stops, the Pacers were up 20 with many of the same subs who had responded to buy the starters rest earlier in the quarter about to reenter for the same purpose, albeit for the remainder of the game on the first night of a back-to-back.

In that way, while perhaps only a tiny detail, the Pacers provided a standard, in getting themselves out of what has been recurrent double trouble, for what should more consistently be expected of them in attention to detail -- not only building at the end of this game but also, maybe, just maybe, carrying over to the games that follow.