On Aaron Nesmith and progressing back to the familiar

The fourth-year forward has been both magic carpet and security blanket, elevating his game while also providing stable (and flexible) defense

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Lost in the scoring bonanza that was the home opener against the Washington Wizards was a very brief, yet notable, lineup quirk. With 0:27 left to play in the second quarter and the Pacers nursing a single-digit lead, Aaron Nesmith checked in for Buddy Hield and Andrew Nembhard replaced Obi Toppin, joining Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, and Myles Turner as the final five on the floor to closeout the half. Per usual, Nembhard and Nesmith took on the top assignments, with the latter guarding Kyle Kuzma and the former glued to Jordan Poole. Similar to last season, Turner got swapped onto Deni Avdija, as a low-usage wing, in order to keep him out of ball-screen coverages. In turn, that meant that Haliburton was cross-matched onto the opposing five, as would often be the case with Buddy Hield, which left Mathurin to defend Tyus Jones at the point of attack.

To counter, Washington ran a set play that would involve Avdija as the screener, relocating Turner to the weak-side wing, where any rotation to the rim would be longer and harder. Of course, that never actually turned out to be necessary, as a play that the Pacers had stopped earlier, with Nembhard chasing Poole through the pindown, resulted in a step-back for Kuzma against Nesmith.

Tellingly, even with two guards involved in the off-ball screening action, the Pacers had Haliburton stay attached to the big, rather than jumping out to Kuzma as he rounded the corner.  Of course, part of the reason why he was able to gain separation had to do with a key difference at the top of the key. In the first instance, Hield stunted at the ball, enabling Nembhard to play catch-up and get square.

When that player was Mathurin, there was no such dig down or quick lunge to fake the idea of help.

With the offense being close to unstoppable, that possession was of little consequence in what turned out to be a blowout win over the Wizards, but it arguably foreshadowed what was to come against Cleveland. After giving up 37 points in the opening frame, with Caris LeVert outscoring the Pacers, 19-12, through the first seven minutes, Indiana once again turned to a familiar grouping when the Cavs started to gain momentum in the fourth quarter, substituting Nesmith for Toppin to finish the game alongside Haliburton, Nembhard, Brown, and Turner. In effect, rather than closing with the current starters, the Pacers closed with last season's starters, only with Brown in place of Hield. Don't get it twisted. This isn't meant to be a commentary on Hield, who went 2-of-7 from deep, as much as to underscore the overall emphasis on surrounding Haliburton with defense and trusting him to deliver on offense -- which he did, despite the fact that he wasn't feeling well.

Coming out of the timeout with under six minutes to play and the Cavs trailing by five, Haliburton scored or assisted on the next 11 points for the Pacers, draining a trio of threes in combination with Nembhard as the passer and/or screener to extend the lead out to double figures and effectively secure the win. During that 57-second stretch, Haliburton returned the favor to LeVert, stepping into one of his daggers while deliberately involving the former Pacer in the action, as Carlisle could be heard calling for Nembhard to "stay high" as the screener. Granted, Nembhard sets solid screens and is capable of changing the angle at the last second, but he was also being checked by Strus, as the most favorable match-up and, in this case, LeVert.

In harkening back to Reggie Miller and activating "flu game" mode, Haliburton put the onus on a trash-talking fan who was sitting courtside, jawing "it's your fault, you did this" as he lit up the Cavs, but LeVert's early attempt at LeVengeance may have also contributed to the ring of fire. There was incentive to wear him out as the lead initiator, even if he wasn't necessarily always the weakest link.

At the other end, meanwhile, Haliburton managed to contest the herky-jerky scorer from his sweet spot after being tracked down in space, but notice what led to the attempt from LeVert to create something out of nothing: Nembhard and Nesmith shut off the first option, switching the same pindown action that ultimately resulted in Kuzma shaking free from Nesmith in the opener.

In what was a smart, heads up play from Nembhard, Nesmith sealed the deal, insuring that Strus was covered on the back-cut -- which was one of the many ways in which he distinguished himself on a night in which Bennedict Mathurin started the game giving up buckets to LeVert before getting picked on away from the ball after halftime. To be fair, LeVert was scoring on practically anybody and everybody in the first quarter, running the gamut from Brown and Nembhard to Toppin and Mathurin, but he got comfortable amid his hunt for Mathurin. The match-ups stayed the same during the third quarter. Brown was the primary assignment against LeVert, with Mathurin trailing Strus, but he wasn't so much trailing Strus, as he was losing track of Strus.

Over a span of less than two minutes, Mathurin allowed him to zoom to the rim while he was guarding no one. Then, there was death by what seemed like a 1,000 cuts, as both Strus and Mobley darted behind him on the same possession. A few plays later, he got knocked off the scent chasing the sharpshooter around a pair of stagger screens for three; and finally, after putting no pressure on the ball in transition, he gave up a cushion for Struss to assist a streaking Mobley for an easy two at the rim. At that point, Carlisle called for a timeout with 8:55 to go in the third quarter. Mathurin stayed on for a few extra minutes and converted a couple of tough shots, but he exited at the 5:53 mark and never played in the fourth quarter, let alone during closing time.

Disregarding the trouble against LeVert, this is an effective summary of what he needs to improve on at that end of the floor in order to stay on the floor.

Just as was the case during preseason, when he was tasked with shadowing Cam Whitmore, Mathurin will have a strong initial thrust, whether denying a hand-off or mirroring his route with a shooter, but then he has a tendency to relax -- as if the job is already done. The job isn't done and that likely contributed to why he, instead, was done for the night before the game was over.

That said, another motivating factor was surely the play of Nesmith, who not only improved on that possession when executing the switch on the pindown but also scored a career-high of 26 points while knocking down 5-of-9 threes, crashing the offensive glass, and committing just a single foul. He didn't just stand in the corners, either. He drifted there, consistently finding the open spot along the arc, and he attacked from there, ripping the ball baseline to get to the rim -- which he tends to avoid, especially when going left. In fact, according to Second Spectrum, Nesmith only logged 20 drives over 73 games last season in which he attacked moving to his left from the left corner. In this game alone, he did so twice, repositioning Strus with a jab-and-go and later losing Strus again, only with a shot-fake after relocating for a dunk. Still, he stepped forward as well as up, especially in a game that also saw him turn the corner against Mobley and take on some shifts against LeVert, particularly when Brown wasn't in the game. For someone who just signed a three-year, $33 million extension, he was like a magic carpet woven together with a security blanket, elevating his game while also providing stable defense as he validated progressing back with him as part of a familiar lineup, albeit including someone who has only played two games for the team (Brown), when the score tightened up in the fourth quarter.

On the night, the Pacers were minus-14 in just 11 minutes with the starters on the floor in a game in which the Cavs were without Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, and Jarrett Allen. It's only the second game of the season. That group will need time to jell, but jelling didn't have that much to do with some of the defensive miscues, unless it's a question of whether the scheme, geared around guarding individual match-ups and limiting three-point attempts, jibes with the personnel of that lineup. Whatever the case, Mathurin's development as a defender is critical to the franchise, which means he may need to be subbed out, at times, in order to reinforce that point and spur his growth. As for Nesmith, if he continues to play like this, he's going to be hard to keep off the floor. Turner managed to finish the game without fouling out; however, if a change had become necessary to protect him from picking up his sixth foul, the Pacers had the option to cross-match Mobley with Nesmith and switch on ball screens. Until Brown demonstrates otherwise, no one else on the roster currently lends that same flexibility to potentially defend fives and also guard the ball from the four spot. To that point, although Nesmith finished the game guarding traditionally against Dean Wade, Toppin notably wasn't in the closing lineup, either.

All of which is to say, while there's no reason to overreact (after all, the team is currently 2-0), there's reason to think that what was already a familiar grouping from last season might become even more familiar as the season progresses.