In going unbeaten, Pacers find new way to win

Several solid minutes of defense were played in a row  

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

When asked what changed for him in the second half, Myles Turner said he was "pissed." After scoring the first nine points of the game for the Pacers, Turner picked up his second foul with over five minutes to play in the first quarter, sending him to the bench for the remainder of the frame. He re-entered midway through the second; however, after picking up his third foul for setting an illegal screen, he ended up watching the rest of the half from the bench in what turned out be a very stunted and staccato stretch of basketball from him, especially during this particular inflection point that featured an easily audible inflection in his voice.

"Come on, man," he could be heard pleading, as he got charged with his second foul while attempting to cover for his teammates at the rim. "I need y'all, there. That's two on me."

The play that provoked his highly demonstrative, albeit thoroughly understandable reaction, was a simple "get" action ran out of "pistol" in which the point guard, Cade Cunningham, passes the ball to Jaden Ivey, who then handbacks to Cunningham for a layup. 

While certainly nothing fancy, those types of fast-developing interactions between guards expose a number of vulnerabilities for the Pacers, given how quickly they can come together out of early offense and in transition while also being run, quite literally, at Haliburton. According to Cleaning the Glass, the Pacers are giving up 148 points per 100 transition plays so far this season -- which would be the worst mark by any team over the last five years, if it holds. Everyone is back for the Pacers, so that isn't exactly a fast-break situation for Cunningham, who is generally known for playing at a more deliberate pace, but the defense still breaks down in a fast hurry, nonetheless.

It's possible Haliburton expected a different option. After all, a few possessions earlier, Ivey went with a keeper, faking the hand-off to Cunningham in anticipation of receiving a screen from the five as the trailer, only to find that Isaiah Stewart was fortuitously wide open under the basket.

In that regard, with Bruce Brown sliding under the hand-off, it seems reasonable to think that Haliburton was likewise expecting the same from Hield, when instead the driving lane suddenly appeared as if from nowhere for Cunningham. Of course, the Pistons also ran another variation during the same quarter, in which Ivey approached as though he was stepping up to receive the hand-off from Cunningham only to veer into a screen for the five to set a screen for the ball.

With Cunningham moseying to his spot from in-between range, that's designed with the intention of making the big late to the ball-screen coverage. Tellingly, the Pistons scored points out of all three options, as Turner was largely overextended to either cover up for mistakes at the rim or be up absorbing the ball. By halftime, after battling foul trouble that seemed somewhat as though it was inflicted upon him, he had yet to tally any additional points following his initial scoring flurry, nor had he grabbed a single rebound. 

All of that changed during the fourth quarter, when he was there for his teammates, as were his teammates for him. Over the final eight minutes, Detroit got outscored 30-7 with Haliburton on the bench for more than half the time. Meanwhile, Turner scored more points off putbacks for that stretch of minutes (8) than he has in any game this season. Plus, he wasn't "just" crashing the glass, which was pivotal given that the Pistons were racking up second-chance opportunities in bulk during the first half. He was diving to his spot for a hook shot, racing out around an off-ball screen (that Obi Toppin was supposed to switch on) to block a three, and then being patient against a double-team to assist Toppin for a three. 

That said, even as his overall pervasiveness changed, the pervasiveness of the coverage around him changed, as well. Suddenly, rather than driving all the way to the rim out of a throw-and-get hand-off and drawing a foul that Turner was forced to commit, Cunningham was being pressured and turned the whole way up the floor by Andrew Nembhard. Then, when he tried to pass the torch to Ivey, just as he had in the first half, Mathurin put his hand to the flame without getting burned.

And, here's the thing: That wasn't their only shining moments. Mathurin stayed vertical contesting a secondary drive in the paint. Turner switched out on a double drag and altered Cunningham's shot at the rim, and Nembhard, while taking turns with Bruce Brown at the point of attack, did things like lasting through a screen, re-screen, and seal screen before eventually veering toward the roller and deflecting the pass. 

Cunningham is a high-level processor of the game and can be a smart operator out of ball screens, but he's committed more live-ball turnovers this season than anyone in the league. Put simply, he can be really loose with the ball (just ask Bruce Brown!). That's why Nemhbard is trying to act like a scythe in a field, playing him close and trying to impact his handle without gambling. From there, when Cunningham enters the ball to the elbow, Nembhard doesn't just deny the throw-and-get hand-off, he stays engaged and snaps his head to avoid giving up the back-cut. 

It was more of the same in isolation. When Nembhard ducked under and beat him to his spot, he also stonewalled the re-attack, turning the ball while staying square. 

For a team that gave up 22 points to Cunningham in the first half, the Pacers held him scoreless over the final eight minutes, in which he also committed three turnovers. For the game, the Pacers were plus-12 in seven minutes played with Nembhard, Mathurin, Brown, Toppin, and Turner on the floor, as they actually extended the lead out to double-figures with Haliburton and Hield both on the bench. On the road against the Hawks, in what became a game about fighting fire-with-fire, that would've been unthinkable. The Pistons, meanwhile, have lost 12-straight games and were also missing some key players. Still, given the way in which the Pacers have struggled to manufacture stops by comparison to themselves in the first half, there arguably shouldn't be any noses turned up at finally landing on a unit that showed some nose for the ball.

It won't be as memorable as what Haliburton and Hield did in Atlanta to clinch Group A, but in going undefeated overall in Group A, the Pacers at least showed that they don't always have to be as dependent on those types of performances to win out. In that regard, after Myles Turner got "pissed," the context around him slowly made it seem as though, at least for this game, he had less external reason to be even if also more internal motivation.