For macro defensive changes, Pacers speak to micro shifts

On the potential to bring change to continuity

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Altogether, the Pacers spoke to reporters for about 80 minutes on Monday at Media Day. During that span, according to YouTube's transcripts, the word "defense," when also including the forms "defensive" and "defensively," was mentioned 51 times. To be fair, some of that massive tally can obviously be attributed to the questions that were asked, but this also marks yet another year of those questions being, well, extremely fair game to ask. After all, headed into training camp two seasons ago, Rick Carlisle said the Pacers would emphasize defense and practice it twice as often as they did offense. Last season, defensive impact and unselfishness were cited as qualities that would break a lot of ties with regard to playing time. In the end, those attributes ultimately won out, as both Andrew Nembhard and Aaron Nesmith eventually worked their way back into the starting lineup after beginning their respective campaigns as bench players, but the overall theme for the season, even as expectations have vastly changed, remains unchanged: in lagging behind the supercharged offense, defense is still, once again, a central focus and talking point.

And so, for a roster that largely has remained the same, there's reason to wonder, and certainly ask, why the results on that end of the floor would now suddenly be different than last season or the season before -- all of which culminated in bottom-10 defenses, including finishing 22nd after acquiring Pascal Siakam. Judging by the responses (of which some very definitely wanted to highlight that they improved to 18th following the All-Star Break, as apparently a much more telling marker), the answer, at least for the time being, appears to lie within, mining for areas of individual, micro-improvements that could potentially culminate in macro-level outcomes.

As such, here's some of the small changes that seem to be on the team's radar headed into training camp, contextualized with film.

Rick Carlisle, speaking about what he would like to see from Bennedict Mathurin headed into Year 3, specifically with regard to taking his defensive ability to another level: "... on-ball pick-and-roll defense is one of the hardest things in our sport, but when you have a strong will and you have that kind of strength, you have the ability to do it."

During this response, Carlisle also made reference to how Ben Sheppard was able to earn playing time during the playoffs with his quick decision making and ability to defend without fouling. By comparison, Sheppard isn't going to put his head down and steamroll to the rim or manufacture his own shot, but Mathurin's defense at the point-of-attack, where Sheppard either stays skinny or vigorously runs the seam, is generally a lot more "getting screened" than it is "navigation." Rather than chasing over and veering at the trigger point of the free throw line or waiting for the cue from the big, Mathurin will routinely late-switch too early, forcing the screener defender to come out of their drop when they should be absorbing the ball.

As can be seen from how Myles Turner is demonstratively gesturing for Mathurin to steer the ball toward him, this was a recurrent issue during the team's home game against the Mavericks last season, when the then-sophomore was pressed into guarding either Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving with Aaron Nesmith sidelined due to injury. That's the opposite of what bore out in the final game of the Eastern Conference Finals, as Sheppard's presence in the starting lineup allowed Nesmith and Nembhard to guard up against Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum. Granted, it should probably raise an eyebrow that Pascal Siakam wasn't the primary assignment against either All-Star wing, but the fact that Sheppard was defending opposite of Derrick White meant that he was applying pressure on ball in a way that few others on the roster can without being exposed to the bully ball of Jrue Holiday. On the season, the Pacers allowed 0.837 points per chance with Sheppard as the on-ball defender in combination with Myles Turner, compared to 1.121 with Mathurin in place of Sheppard. If Mathurin is going to rejoin the starting lineup and/or assert himself as a critical piece of the team's core, then it's imperative that he actualizes the physical tools he possesses as an on-ball defender -- especially if and until he can develop his feel away from the ball.

"Defense was also a main area for me to improve," Mathurin said, when discussing his goals for the offseason along with strengthening his shoulder.

"That's been one of my main focus areas for the summer."

Tyrese Haliburton, reflecting on how he can be a better defensive player: "I think people look at me as such a high IQ player, but when I watch film sometimes, I'm pretty frustrated by what I'm thinking defensively," he explained. "It's different if you're in the right place and a guy makes a shot ... or, if you're trying and a guy gets by you and scores. That's one thing, but sometimes when I go back and watch the film, like, I'm not in the right places a lot of times." 

Last season, the Pacers got outscored by 2.41 points per 100 possessions in the 698 minutes that Tyrese Haliburton and Bennedict Mathurin were on the floor together, despite the fact that they scored a mammoth 119.3 points per 100 possessions. At times, that's because the two of them didn't just get hunted on-ball, with Haliburton getting screening into the action, they also were targeted away from the ball, as they would take turns losing track of where to be and when.

For example, when the Players played Boston at the beginning of January, the Celtics ran and scored out of this same chin action three times in a row, just by simultaneously involving Haliburton and Mathurin. The first time, after Haliburton got held up chasing over on the back-screen at the weak-side slot from Jayson Tatum for Derrick White, he attempted to late-switch, hugging Tatum, at the same time as Mathurin also stayed with Tatum. Then, when Jalen Smith jumped over from the corner to take White on the cut, Mathurin effectively did a 360-degree turn in the lane before peeling off to find Jaylen Brown.

On the next trip, Haliburton attempted to beat White to his spot by sliding under the back-screen from Tatum, but Mathurin pressed up on the screen and didn't leave a gap for Haliburton to squirt through to the other side. As a result, with Mathurin screening his own teammate, the two of them had no choice but to switch, resulting in a late contest on the fade from White.

To complete the trifecta of triples, they finally executed the switch, with Haliburton chasing over and sticking with Tatum as Mathurin covered White, but Haliburton still ended up getting beat on the drive, and then was also a beat slow recovering out to Horford after Turner collapsed to help.

As Haliburton indicated, it's one thing for him to get overwhelmed by Tatum on the perimeter; it's quite another for him and Mathurin not to be able to get out of their own way while also getting in the way of each other. In that regard, those plays are a fine mess -- in every sense of the word, including the fact that the messiness might be "fine" or at least more fixable than those that are less about talk and require a lot more action, as opposed to the reverse.

Speaking of speaking...

Pascal Siakam, discussing from experience what it takes to be a defensive team that opposing teams dread playing: "We have to stay connected on defense and communication is really important," he explained. "Doing our principles to the highest possible level, it's going to take commitment."

Pressuring full-court isn't easy, but the Pacers got the requisite buy-in to do so for over 400 possessions during the playoffs -- which was the most of any postseason team in Synergy's 15-year database. As those possessions between Mathurin and Haliburton indicate from the prior section, that same level of commitment also needs to apply to their communication in the half-court. There were too many times last season, including during the Eastern Conference Finals, when it was evident that they weren't on the same page, as they attempted to run incongruent coverages. Here, for example, if Haliburton is going to stay in show-and-recover to avoid giving up the mismatch, then he has to be loud calling out the coverage as the screener defender.

Otherwise, with Siakam opening his stance to weak Jaylen Brown to his left, likely in anticipation that the screener defender was going to be a big who would stay in drop coverage, the other side of the pick is entirely exposed, as Haliburton instead steps up above the level of the screen. Granted, Siakam is heavy-footed with his urgency to get back in the play, but he didn't just readily give up a blowby; the defense got put into emergency rotation, requiring help from the corner, because they needed a lot more talk, along with the action.

Put simply, guarding the yard -- as far as staying between the ball and the basket -- is a lot more difficult when the gate to the yard is already unlocked, wide open for anyone to enter.

Aaron Nesmith, on whether any changes in approach are needed: "Just being connected as a team, making sure we cover each other's backs -- it's a five-man effort for whoever's out there."

Much has been made about the scheme the Pacers started the season with last year, as far as the fact that that they "limited" corner threes more than any team in the league while also allowing the highest opponent rim frequency and ranking last in closeouts per 100 possessions. In attempting to guard straight-up, whether two-versus-two against the pick-and-roll or with single-coverage in the post, they oftentimes ended up laying out a red carpet to the rim while appearing confused as to where the help was supposed to come from, perhaps with no greater example than the literal red stripe that was painted down the middle of the floor at the Finals of the In-Season Tournament, in which they surrendered 86 points in the paint to the Lakers. That said, there were very clear adjustments to that scheme as the season progressed.

Remember, after attempting to check Giannis Antetokounmpo with Buddy Hield, they built a three-player wall at the free throw line during the games at the beginning of January. Likewise, when the adjustment was made to start guarding Jalen Brunson with Aaron Nesmith during the second-round of the playoffs, Pascal Siakam was oftentimes lurking in the background, flooding strong-side to provide a shadow presence while even at times helping from the ball-side corner.

Still, there was an adjustment period. When the Pacers gave up 151 points to the LA Clippers in the game that saw James Harden doing snow angels on the sideline, they had already started showing more help; they just weren't particularly helpful -- at least not as it pertains to providing full-bodies help. Here, for example, they're loading up at the blocks and elbows with Harden matched-up against McConnell, but as he starts to drive to his strong-hand, the goalie stationed to deter him from going left doesn't do much goal-keeping.

In effect, that's aggressively passive and speaks to the responsibility of the players to bring the scheme to life, regardless of how lively, with regard to shrinking the floor, the scheme asks them to be.

Andrew Nembhard, discussing the value of continuity, as well as acting on instincts with regard to defensive playmaking: "...in terms of rules on defense and following them, I think there's a little gray area in terms of how we can kind of make plays and clog things up and make it tougher on the offense. Those are feel things, and we've just got to feel it out as a group and see where we can make adjustments."

Reads aren't only made on offense; they're also required on defense, at times, existing as an expression of the perceptiveness by which a player can break from scheme or exaggerate the scheme without also compromising the scheme. Take that possession against the Clippers and compare it to what developed in the second round of the playoffs. In both cases, the Pacers intended to load up on a left-hand dominant scorer at the elbow, but spot the difference.

When Brunson breaks the arc, Nembhard pounces, jump-switching onto the ball from Josh Hart, while motioning for Siakam to stay home on DiVincenzo.

Then, once the drive was cut-off, forcing Brunson to pivot away from the basket, Haliburton activated his instincts as aerial ace and made the read to, quite literally, take first pass on the back-side of the action.

In that way, in addition to providing an actual presence to the shadow presence that the scheme called for in that series, with Josh Hart's defender allowing Nesmith to play closer to the ball, Haliburton is also, quite clearly, in the exact right place at the exact right time. Taken altogether, while the circumstances of that series also contributed in at least some degree to the outcome, so too did many of the aforementioned micro-level shifts on the macro-level difference.

Still, regardless of whether Pacers finished 22nd in defensive rating after trading for Siakam or 18th following the trade deadline, the lesson from the Eastern Conference Finals was that one team had a versatile, defensive foundation they could rely on with the ability to switch across multiple positions, while the other, which ultimately was eliminated, did not. To that point, for a team that is returning much of the same roster, along with many of the same talking points, the surest way for the latest round of "defense as a point of emphasis" not to become old hat is to bring a fresh perspective, looking inward -- as many of the players did -- as to how they, with small, incremental improvements, can bring about change to continuity.