Finding a highlight for the Pacers in a mess of hijinks

On a detail that shouldn't get swept under the rug just because the Hawks swept the two-game miniseries 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

After the Pacers pulled ahead to take a 107-106 lead on a gutsy, pull-up three from Bennedict Mathurin with 5:50 to play in the second of two-straight road games against the Atlanta Hawks, a lot proceeded to go haywire during the crunch-time that manifested despite getting crunched in the first half.

As a brief refresher (downer?):

Aaron Nesmith fouled Trae Young shooting a three. Mathurin lost the ball driving into traffic and came up just short on a potential go-ahead shot at the rim. Myles Turner also the lost the ball driving into traffic and came up just short on a potential go-ahead free throw. Onyeka Okongwu not only grabbed every rebound in sight, but also wasn't grabbed when the ball was inbounded to him, as a 73-percent free-throw shooter, even though the Pacers needed to foul. A step-back three from Andrew Nembhard was ruled a step-back two, and Pascal Siakam apparently lost track of time, inexplicably going for a quick two when the Pacers desperately needed a three.

Not great! And yet, while plenty of blame is deserved all-around for the plethora of late-game lows and woes that ultimately culminated in a 120-118 failed comeback attempt, there also was a meaningful highlight to be found in the mess of hijinks.

Just look at the difference by comparison to the first game. Two nights earlier, Andrew Nembhard closed the game opposite from Trae Young, guarding the other team's best player even as he was tasked with filling in as lead guard for his own team's best player while also being guarded by the other team's best defender.

Granted, Nembhard got plenty of breaks, as he was more often assigned away from the ball when Ben Sheppard or T.J. McConnell were on the floor with him; however, when it was time to find a break in the game, he was "the guy" picking up "the guy" above the break. With less than three minutes to play in the fourth quarter, when the Hawks called for horns twist, setting an initial ball-screen for Young toward the sideline before immediately pivoting and setting a second ball-screen for him coming from the middle, the Pacers didn't switch with Siakam on the first screen.

And they also didn't blitz or corral with Turner on the second screen.

Instead, with Turner defending up to a touch and scurrying away, it was, quite literally, touch-and-go, as Young not only got around the edge of the defense but also found the hole on the perimeter of the defense he put in rotation.

That changed in the second game at nearly the same minute mark. After tallying 26 points in the first half while being checked by everyone from Ben Sheppard, as his initial primary, to Nesmith, Nembhard, and even two-way guard Quenton Jackson, Young found himself opposite from a different Benn during crunch-time, as he once again prepared to put the defense into the same "twist."

The only difference was, the coverage was different. As suggested, in contrast to the prior game, the Pacers switched on the first screen toward the sideline with Siakam.

Then, although they didn't blitz with Turner, the fact that Siakam was able to get over the top of the second screen with high hands meant that the help had more time to read the flight of the pass from the perimeter rather than getting exposed by a pass to the perimeter.

That wasn't an isolated example, either. They also switched with Siakam during this stretch on high ball screens when his man was the screener.

Stalling out the offense, as they trusted his length to contest against a hampered version of Young in isolation.

There were glimmers of that as an option in the prior game, but the more frequent coverage during crunch-time was chasing over with an overtaxed version of Nembhard with Siakam in drop, only without much, ahem, actual drop.

As such, the switch to guarding Young with Mathurin instead of Nembhard was as much about switching as the change in assignments. By assigning Mathurin to Young and switching with Siakam, Mathurin didn't have to do that much actual guarding of Young -- and neither did Nembhard nor Nesmith, who are generally better adept at making off-ball rotations than Mathurin. When speaking to reporters about the similarities between Young and Haliburton prior to the first game, Quin Snyder said the following: "It's a vision of the game that's unique. Some players can see one defender. Some players can see the help-defender. ...Both of those guys see the whole floor and they're able to anticipate."

In addition to starting as lead point guard and finishing as the only available point guard after T.J. McConnell went down with an ankle injury, that quote likely explains why Nembhard was more often defending away from the ball. There were some hiccups with responsibilities in the first game, but he's arguably the highest feel defender on the roster when it comes to jump-switching onto the ball and playing the cat-and-mouse game with primary initiators as a tagger.

Tellingly, the switch from Mathurin to Nembhard against Young wasn't quite as effective when Young was the screener, switching Nembhard back onto the ball in rearview pursuit, with Mathurin as the expected tagger, albeit not actually tagging.

Of course, some kudos also goes to old friend Caris LeVert for the well-timed cut from the corner that confused those responsibilities by lifting Nesmith away from the action, but the overall point, with regard to Mathurin and what made him stand out, not only for amassing 30 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in his first game back to action but also who he was assigned to during crunch-time and why, still stands.

Without Tyrese Haliburton in the lineup, Atlanta jumped out to a 17-point lead late in the second quarter, as the Pacers isolated on three possessions in a row against Okongwu. First, with Mathurin taking a 20-foot jumper against the big man even as Turner was being guarded by LeVert. Then, with Nembhard launching a long bomb against the same switch at the end of the shot clock. And finally, with Siakam getting his shot blocked after going straight at the match up and hoisting up a floater without making a single pass. That type of offense, which contributed to the struggles on defense in terms of not being able to apply full-court pressure and being off-balance from bad shots might not have been as prevalent if Haliburton was available to keep the ball moving while spacing out the defense.

That said, just as the Pacers were at times stymied by switches on offense, they also found that, after giving up a 74 points in the paint in the first game and 34 points in the paint in the first half of the second game, they could stymy some of those paint attacks with some of their own switches, both with respect to coverage and assignment. In that way, while this two-game sweep certainly wasn't beneficially meaningful when it comes to the standings, it's possible, when separating out these highlights from the latest slow start and maddening late-game hijinks, that what was lost without Haliburton in the short-term might be gained in his stead as insight for the long-term.