How the Pacers summarized the season with one play

On the broader implications of an opponent missed free throw (seriously) 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

During his weekly radio appearance on 1075's Wake Up Call, Rick Carlisle said the following when asked what was keeping Bennedict Mathurin from getting more consistent playing time:

"He had some struggles in the Philly game with defense and rebounding."

He then later went on to add, "Mathurin's obviously a very important guy, and he scored the ball well in the first two games, but this is not only about scoring."

The next night, Mathurin once again showed that he can score the ball, as he racked up 30 points on 17 shots while putting forth a 50-40-90 effort and attempting 11 free throws. From knocking down a three out of a slot-to-slot pitch as the trailer to twisting and twirling his way to the rim like a steel marble in a pinball shoot, Mathurin was a force in the open floor, repeatedly poking at the flimsiness of Boston's transition defense, which entered the game ranked 29th in points allowed per possession. In the half-court, meanwhile, he also did plenty of damage, rising up for a contested three over Jayson Tatum and, after devolving to some catch-and-hold possessions in the fourth quarter, fluidly attacking a closeout during overtime to put the Pacers ahead, at 130-128, before Pascal Siakam ultimately salvaged the win with the final five points of the extra period, including connecting on his sixth triple, tying a career high.

And yet, as Carlisle noted, this is "not only about about scoring," and for Mathurin, at least in this game, it wasn't. That's why, for a team that has at times appeared listless to start the season, managing the weight of expectations along with the balancing act of developing to level up in the future while also trying to win in the present, this play -- both for the result as well as the impetus -- is an encapsulation of what this season has been and ultimately will need to be.

It wasn't anything flashy, just a missed free throw from Jayson Tatum after Mathurin fouled him making an emergency rotation to the rim, but look at what happened before and consider the impact of what followed thereafter. At the time, the Pacers were playing a hybrid bench lineup that saw Jarace Walker taking on the assignment against Tatum as the wing-sized wing they didn't have in the Eastern Conference Finals, when the series ended with the Pacers either being too small with Nesmith or not mobile enough on switches with Toppin and Turner. This is supposed to be the middle way - eventually.

For now, though, Walker opened his stance to turn and sprint way too soon, allowing Tatum get downhill with a head of steam and nearly causing a collision with Obi Toppin, who was attempting to play catch-up and anticipating a late-switch from Walker. In this scheme, when the ball breaks the free throw line, the on-ball defender is supposed to veer into the screener, which means Walker should've backed up and run the seam rather than cutting off Toppin's angle to the ball. After Mathurin was forced to engage with a hard foul as the low-man, Toppin could be seen explaining as much to Walker.

A few moments later, there was another teachable moment. With Tatum at the line, Mathurin lined up on the side of the lane with Walker next to Sam Hauser.

At that point in the game, despite the fact that he had played less than two minutes, Luke Kornet had already snatched two offensive rebounds and would end up finishing with seven. As such, watch Tyrese Haliburton. Following the first miss, he rushes inside the arc before the official hands the ball back to Tatum, telling Mathurin to change sides of the lane.

This is what happened next.

"There's things that don't show up in the stat sheet," Mathurin told reporters following the win as to what areas he thought he had shown improvement on defense. "They had Kornet and (Neemias) Queta taking rebounds, so you have to crack down and make sure we we get the ball. It doesn't count as my rebound, but we make sure that we secure the ball."

In this case, his efforts did show up in the stat sheet, as he gained inside position in front of a 7-foot-1 center and secured the rebound himself with one hand to grab-and-go before finding Obi Toppin as a moving target for free throws at the other end of the floor. That may not seem like much, given that the Pacers had two players on that side of the lane, but nothing should ever be assumed as guaranteed for this team on the glass. After all, this was a thing that happened during the playoffs.

"We did rebounding and loose ball drills this afternoon in our prep," Carlisle told reporters in the post-game presser, further adding that "nobody does that."

Turns out, in contrast to the loss to Philadelphia, in which the Sixers sapped the pace from the Pacers by intentionally running toward their backs on an offensive shot to create 50/50 opportunities while staying in front of their match-ups, it's easier to play with tempo when the team makes a concerted effort to want the ball. Granted, the Celtics were not implementing the same scheme as Philadelphia, and their transition defense to start the season, as previously referenced, has been leaky, but there was still an undeniable change in energy from the Pacers and especially Mathurin, who led the team with eight defensive rebounds. That's quite the turnaround from this a few nights ago.

A few possessions later, after Mathurin had pulled down the rebound in front of Kornet, Haliburton could be seen offering more instruction. This time, telling Walker to help from his side against the mismatch between Tatum and McConnell so the defense could rotate behind him.

In that case, the message wasn't received quite as well or to similar effect as with Mathurin, but that goes to show the overall dynamic of the season that, with on-court learning and perhaps whatever else can be absorbed in the wake of time spent on the bench, one or the other of them or both will slowly start to reveal the best versions of themselves while also maybe, just maybe, addressing the team's outsized needs of being routinely outsized by other teams.

In that sense, Tatum's missed free throw wasn't just a teachable moment within that possession; it was a lesson in why, as it applies to the team at-large, a little effort with the right guidance can at times make up for lack of length in going a long way.