This is My Hatbox, Part 2

If you're unfamiliar with the origin story for the hatbox concept, go back and read the intro to Part 1. Otherwise, let's keep pulling out notes about the next set of games.

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Pacers 100, Cavaliers 122 – Myles Turner’s Opening Act & Finishing Kick

Trying to interpret the motivations behind how the Pacers decide what play they are going to open games with is always a fun exercise. At times, the intention is plain as day. When the Pacers played the Hawks on January 13, for example, Chris Duarte hadn’t made a field goal in five of his last seven games, so they opened with him attempting to cut to the basket for an easy two out of a back-screen wrinkle that was baked into one of their already existing sets. Granted, the execution and timing didn’t exactly go as planned, but it was evident the special was tweaked for a special purpose.

In other instances, however, it almost seems as though the Pacers are cracking open a time capsule and trying to find out if some garment of clothing from a bygone era might still be in style. Consider what happened against the Cavs. Other than Myles Turner recording his third-straight double-double, with 27 points and 10 rebounds, there weren’t a lot of positives to latch onto from this loss, but the continued expansion of his game – and where it might continue to expand further still – was reflected from the very beginning of action.

Here’s what you need to know. Based on my recollection, the last time the Pacers opened with this particular play, wherein a down screen is set for a player to flash to the elbow followed by a catch flowing into split action and paired with a subsequent exit screen, was during 2021 preseason against the New York Knicks. Notably, the player at the center of the action, either quarterbacking passes to cutters or pivoting to play pick-and-roll, was Domantas Sabonis.

Now, by comparison, that player is Turner.

Aside from metaphorically taking an old cardigan out from mothballs and trying it on for size on someone else, the other reason why this play is notable is because of how compelling Turner’s driving game has been of late. In this game alone, he scored nine points on drives with Jarrett Allen as his primary defender. To put that number into perspective, Karl-Anthony Towns leads all centers in points scored off drives, averaging 5.7 per game. No one should be expecting Turner to start bringing the ball up the floor and initiating offense, a la Sabonis or Jokic, but his ability to dribble into rim attacks from outside the three-point line can be backbreaking against opposing fives, bringing to question whether he might be able to handle some reps on-ball. According to Synergy, he has only used four possessions this season as the pick-and-roll ball-handler; however, imagine deploying that same play against teams that face-guard or overplay Haliburton, only with inverted elbow pick-and-roll as the counter.

In effect, Haliburton would be sandwiching his own man, creating a makeshift double ball-screen for Turner. Of course, unless the action is run in the opposite direction, Turner would be putting the ball on the floor with his off-hand. That said, part of the reason why there is cause for optimism with regard to his driving game is because he’s started to occasionally flash some handles, as he does, here, crossing over to his left from the perimeter while under duress.

Circling back to the original point though, the Pacers probably chose to open with this play so as to occupy both of Cleveland’s centers at once, potentially creating a single-side tag with Hield in the weak-side corner if the action had developed as it did for Sabonis against New York. Even so, there might be just as much value as it pertains to Turner, in looking backward – at what was – as looking ahead – at what could be.

Pacers 111, Heat 116 – Doing the math on Bennedict Mathurin

Bennedict Mathurin played 13 minutes in this game, marking a season low. Notably, his previous season-low of 19 minutes also came against the Miami Heat, occurring the night Tyrese Haliburton went off for 43 points, including ending the game (both figuratively and literally) with a game-winner. Overall, the two match-ups weren’t all that similar in process, let alone outcome, but they did have a few things in common with regard to Mathurin – perhaps, hinting at why his minutes were reduced.

Just look at what happened before he was pulled during the first quarter.

And at what happened before that.

Andddddd… at what happened before that.

For those keeping count, from losing track of his defender on an off-ball cut to trotting back in transition with his back turned to the ball and also giving up a straight line drive, almost as if he was preparing to ice a screen that never came, that’s three fairly egregious errors committed over a span of less than five minutes. Agreeably, young players need to have room to play through mistakes, but there also has to be accountability for those types of lapses – which hasn’t only applied to Mathurin. In fact, think back to the first match-up of the season against Miami. When the Pacers got burned by the same play on consecutive possessions, guess who was subbed out after failing to bump the cutter?

Why, yes, it was Tyrese Haliburton – the team’s best player. Don’t get it twisted, this isn’t meant to single out those two guys, as much as to point out that being held to task with an emphasis on building habits has been a theme up and down the roster this season. If it seems as though Mathurin has less leeway … Well, as was alluded to above, he also had some similarly loud miscues the last time the Pacers played in Miami, struggling on both sides of the pick-and-roll, whether navigating around the screen or having no impact on the pass to the roll-man after switching.

Plus, in addition to his defense against the Heat, another factor to consider is how the Heat game-planned to defend the Pacers. After dropping 43 points in the prior match-up, Haliburton was being hounded by Jimmy Butler and largely trying to avoid head-on confrontations with Bam Adebayo. Moreover, when he had a favorable match-up, Miami was effectively giving him the jack-in-the-box treatment, either popping up out of nowhere with an extra defender or lunging toward him to plug his driving lane.

In part, this possession should explain why Haliburton only attempted eight shots, as well as some of the reason why Mathurin didn’t log any action during the fourth quarter. Per usual, when Haliburton is playing away from the ball with the intention of zooming out of the corner, the player setting the pindown to launch him toward the ball and into the hand-off will cut in front of him and hook back into the screen. From there, he normally turns the ball downhill; however, Butler stays attached, causing him to advance it ahead and then chase the eventual deflection after getting it back.

Admittedly, some off-ball cutting might be helpful in these types of situations moving forward. Imagine, for instance, that Aaron Nesmith cut from the corner to the dunker’s spot with Hield fading deep into the corner. That would burn Gabe Vincent, as the nail defender, for helping in the gap while also potentially freeing up Hield.

Instead, after retrieving the loose ball and getting a screen to attack Herro in space, Haliburton once again gets ambushed by a trap, forcing Nembhard to make a decision from the middle of the floor as the release valve.

Even with Nembhard taking an extra, unnecessary dribble, try picturing Mathurin in that same role. To be fair, it seems unlikely that Mathurin would likewise be defended by Herro, which is why he would be in the position of needing to slip into space as a connector. Still, look at his final possession of the game on offense, before he subbed out with 1:47 to play in the third quarter. After rounding the stagger and regrouping to weave around the ball-screen, he never gives a thought to making a pass – even with Herro helping from the ball-side corner.

Granted, that full-steam ahead mentality is part of what makes him, him, as far as seeing obstacles as opportunities, but he can also be predetermined in his determination, providing reason to close with the playmaking and defense of Nembhard and/or McConnell during a game in which the opponent was scheming for Haliburton to give up the ball.

For reference, among the 132 players in the NBA who are averaging at least five drives per game, only Kelly Oubre (13.3) and Joel Embiid (12.3) have lower pass percentages than Mathurin (16.6). All of which is to say that, assessing his play and whether he should be playing isn’t as simple as merely looking at his streak of five-straight games in which he scored 20 or more points when Haliburton was out or looking at how his minutes dipped after Haliburton returned. The opponent matters and so does the context of the game. Remember, for instance, that when Jrue Holiday torched the Pacers on MLK Day, Mathurin finished the game in place of Nembhard, who was laboring to get downhill and initiate against Milwaukee’s adjustment to start switching. On the season, Mathurin leads the team in fourth-quarter minutes per game. He’s getting opportunities and continuing to learn, which at times needs to come with being subbed out, as well as gaining experience on the job.

Pacers 104, Suns 117 – An Isaiah Jackson sighting!

Prior to this game, Kevin Pritchard spoke with the media about the 2023 NBA trade deadline and said the following: “At the end of the day, we have to figure out how we can keep developing because that’s the way we’re going to be great someday.” Then, during the game, Daniel Theis continued to get the nod at back-up five, with neither Isaiah Jackson nor Jalen Smith logging action until the fourth quarter, when the Pacers were trailing by double figures.

Oh, the irony!

As was laid out in the prior section, playing time shouldn’t be unconditional; however, at some point, the conditions for even having a chance at playing time may need to be reevaluated with more of a long-term focus in mind. After all, this happened two days after the team waived Goga Bitadze, who spent most of his tenure with the Pacers buried in the rotation while struggling to take advantage of scant opportunities. Moving forward, it seems like that should resonate as more of a cautionary tale.

Regardless, there was still some potential treasure to be found in what started out as garbage time, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, as a unit featuring Smith and Jackson in tandem managed to make Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams skittish enough to reinsert Chris Paul, Devin Booker, and Deandre Ayton (where was his tribute video, by the way?) back into the game with under five minutes to play. Before dumpster diving into that portion of the fourth quarter, though, look at how Jackson was deployed, jumping out above the level of the screen, on the first possession of the frame.

Given his slender build and ongoing battle with taking bad angles in drop and wrong steps when switching out, determining Jackson’s ideal pick-and-roll coverage has been somewhat of an ongoing mystery, but maybe leaning into his ground coverage and allowing him to be more proactive, at least in spots, will provide some clarity.

To that point, when the lead started to dwindle for Phoenix, Jackson continued to induce escape dribbles and hang-time passes from the starters, just as he had against the end-of-the-bench group, sliding his feet in a fury while swiping at the ball and staying parallel to the sideline to prevent the ball-handler from turning the corner.

All of that in combination works to minimize some of the size disadvantage the Pacers can find themselves in with back-side rotations as it buys time for the low-man to be aggressive reading passing lanes with extra air under the ball. Tellingly, Indiana also unleashed Jackson to pounce during some of his minutes against the Atlanta Hawks, calling for him to hard hedge against Spain pick-and-rolls.

There’s ways to counter that, particularly by veering into a pindown in the middle of the floor when the big is worrying about recovering to the roll-man. Meanwhile, it’s also imperative that the ball-handler actually uses the screen. Otherwise, players such as Trae Young, who have mastered the art of rejecting and/or splitting screens, can simply attack into the exposed space with the big completely committed to the other side. Still, by comparison, this is what Jackson looked like in drop coverage during that same game, even as he recorded seven blocks – mainly, while rotating to the rim.

In case an exclamation point is needed to emphasize that point, he was assigned to Dejounte Murray after halftime, rather than Onyeka Okongwu, so as to keep him out of ball screen coverages. It would still be interesting to see more of him as a weak-side roamer alongside Myles Turner, and its possible opponents would start to beat the aggressive coverage, which yielded positive returns against Phoenix, with a few quick passes. Either way, the only way to find out is to try, and the only way to try is for him to play more regularly, even when Turner and Theis are both healthy and available.