Pacers Notebook: Observations from Battle LA

A late-night tale of two games in the same city

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

In the NBA, there's always another game right around the corner, including sometimes even in the same city against a different team on the second night of a back-to-back. For the Pacers, that meant moving on quickly from the loss to the Lakers with a win over the Clippers, providing an obvious contrast in terms of outcome as well as a through-line with regard to the dominance of Pascal Siakam. California dreamin, amirite? After wrapping up the schedule in the Pacific time zone (finally!), here's what stood out from the two-game stand in Los Angeles -- especially as it pertains to problem-solving for the rest of the season along with what's changed in a season seemingly full of seasons.

The Whistle Crisis

The Lakers attempted 43 free throws while the Pacers had 16 as the two teams combined for 295 points. There have been eight games in the NBA this season in which either team has scored at least 150 points. After falling 150-145 to the Lakers on Sunday, the Pacers have been part of six of those eight games. Needless to say, in what was an unexpected reprisal of "hot girl" basketball, the Pacers flew too close to the sun (and, apparently, most of the Lakers as well). After the game, Rick Carlisle brought up the glaring free throw disparity, saying it was "impossible to overcome."

"Thought our guys really battled in this game, there were just certain things that were impossible to overcome," Carlisle said. "The 27 free-throw differential is one, and the 17 foul differential is the other. And I'll leave it at that."

Since trading for Pascal Siakam, the Pacers have ranked 26th in opponent free throw attempt rate, which is up from dead-last on the season. The Lakers, meanwhile, lead the league in the same category. Take from those numbers what you will. To be fair, the free throw totals from this particular game are slightly skewed because the Pacers were fouling late to get back in the game -- with 10 of the attempts for the Lakers coming during the last 46 seconds of action. Overall, auditing every call or non-call from this game sounds about as miserable as staying up late to watch 43 free throw attempts, so that isn't going to happen in this space (sorry!). Actually, correction: That isn't going to happen in this space, except for one specific call. Notably, Anthony Davis was whistled for his third foul with 5:35 to play in the first half. Here's a rundown of the Pacers' possessions over the next 4:29 of action before he was subbed out:

• Turner 27' 3PT running jump shot - made

• Haliburton 7' driving floating jump shot - missed

• Nesmith 25' 3PT jump shot - missed

• Nembhard 10' jump bank shot - made

• Haliburton 27' 3PT jump shot - missed

• Haliburton 25' 3PT step back jump shot - missed

• Siakam 2' driving layup - missed

• Turner 27' 3PT step back jump shot - missed

• Haliburton 4' fadeaway jumper - missed

• Siakam 1' driving layup - made

• Toppin 1' running layup - made

• Toppin offensive foul - turnover

Altogether, the Pacers went 4-of-11 from the field during that stretch, getting outscored 14-9, with only three attempts coming as layups. And, here's the thing: Toppin's layup was mostly uncontested in transition. Otherwise, the only player who attempted a shot at the rim while moving into the body of Davis was also the same player who dominated the paint in the third quarter, scoring 19 of his 36 points for the game. In both instances, when Siakam drove at Davis, Davis mainly just backed out of the play.

As such, it remains to be seen whether Davis actually would've committed his fourth foul before halftime or just kept conceding drives. Either way, on a night when their offense was their best defense, it arguably would've been worth it for the Pacers to find out -- especially since he finished with 36 points and 16 rebounds. If they couldn't stop him (without fouling), perhaps be more proactive, at least during this stretch, in testing if the same would be the case for him.

The Haliburton-Nembhard connection

As confusing as it was that the Pacers kept fouling Austin Reaves at the end of the game instead of forcing someone else to catch the ball (i.e. six of the last 10 free throw attempts for the Lakers were taken by him), it was equally confusing how much trouble the Lakers were having in switching two-man actions that involved him.

On two possessions in a row, when Nembhard screened or was the hand-off setter for Haliburton, the Lakers either didn't switch everything or weren't watertight with their switches, allowing Haliburton to come up shooting (yes, he was shooting at the end of the game).

In the first instance, though, notice how Nembhard re-screens following the hand-off, which confuses the coverage and makes the switch more difficult with the ball moving way. That's similar to how the Pacers attacked the Cavs at the beginning of the season, when Nembhard changed the angle of the screen at the last second, late pivoting on the approach while being guarded by the weakest defender.

On the season, Nembhard has only set 20 non-contact screens for Haliburton. He isn't a top candidate to blur in front of the ball and slip out into space with momentum, but maybe the combination of his physicality paired with more nuanced screening techniques can make up for some of the difference in space that Haliburton is creating for himself as well as the space that is being created for him.

Pascalifornia

Remember the snow angels that James Harden was doing on the sidelines after knocking down four-straight threes as part of a 151-127 takedown of the Pacers back in December? Turns out, as a result of hot shooting and plenty of points in the paint, the memory of those impressions melted away quickly in The City of Angels. Of course, although the Pacers also just gave up 150 points to the other team from LA less than two nights ago, a lot has changed in the last few months -- including the emergence of Pascal Siakam.

The last time these two teams met, the Clippers followed the blueprint provided by the Lakers and started early with Ivica Zubac blitzing against Tyrese Haliburton. For that game, with Myles Turner and Jalen Smith both out of the lineup, Isaiah Jackson shook loose making reads to the opposite corner out of the short-roll.

After halftime, the Clippers countered by cross-matching Zubac onto either Bruce Brown or T.J. McConnell with Paul George instead guarding Jackson and switching ball screens. That worked to further expand the lead, because when the Pacers tried to run the action at Zubac, George didn't have to stay attached to Jackson.

During the third quarter, the Clippers jumped ahead by as many as 25 points, outscoring the Pacers by eights points in the eight minutes when Zubac was on the floor at the same time as Brown or McConnell. On Monday, Zubac didn't even play eight total minutes in the second half.

Here's why. After Haliburton started out shooting 5-of-6 from deep with Zubac in drop coverage, the Clippers had to make a choice during halftime: either start blitzing with Zubac, as they had done in the prior match-up, or go small. On the first possession of the third quarter, Zubac was up at the level of the screen, applying pressure against Haliburton.

The only problem is, unlike Jackson, Turner can pop and isn't as reluctant to shoot as Brown or McConnell -- even when the Clippers started stunting on the catch. Before four minutes had elapsed in the third quarter, Zubac was subbed out in favor of going small with Kawhi Leonard as the tallest player on the floor. From then on, Haliburton shot 1-of-3 from two and 1-of-2 from three against what was mostly a switching defense. The only problem is, there was another problem. When both teams started playing hybrid bench lineups, Pascal Siakam turned into a laser from mid-range, shooting over the top of P.J. Tucker at nominal five, as well as the switches that were originally enacted to lockdown the arc and particularly Haliburton.

And, there's the difference. When Haliburton made enough shots to warrant changing the coverage, Siakam not only became an X-factor, he was fed the ball in bulk, providing an ongoing contrast from the fourth quarter against Cleveland, when only one field goal attempt was filtered to him despite generating favorable mismatches.

After recording back-to-back 30-point scoring performances against both LA teams with matching thunderous dunks, Siakam didn't just take back on the mantle of Pascalifornia, as coined by Raptors Twitter in reference to his track record of stellar play on the west coach; he established himself as an actualized counterweight to Haliburton, both in shouldering more of the weight and operating counter to what anyone else on the roster can offer.

Jarace Walker shining in the shadows

In addition to the rapid-fire touch passes, sly deflections, and smooth shooting stroke, Walker impressed, as curious as it may sound, with how he made himself, along with the absence of Aaron Nesmith, less noticeable.

When Nesmith picked up his third foul in the prior game with 3:10 to play in the second quarter, the Lakers didn't waste much time targeting Siakam-Haliburton with side screen actions, as the former was switching with the latter attempting to execute a quick show.

The Clippers, meanwhile, were equally quick in feeding the ball to Paul George with a size advantage over Ben Sheppard. Walker wasn't flawless on the defensive end, as he still got clipped on some screens and had to rely on his length to compensate for what he gave up in separation, but he also had the length to make up for what he gave up in separation. Plus, he demonstrated improved habits and decision-making with some of his off-ball stunts. After the All-Star Break, he played four minutes against the Raptors and that almost felt like too many, as he could be seen overreacting to the pop without keeping eyes on the ball-side corner. It's a small thing, but the fact that he stunted on this possession with a purpose, so as to allow Siakam to catch-up through the off-ball screen and re-screen while buffering for the imperfect recovery angle and not surrendering his own angle to the corner, shows a better understanding of the reason he's helping instead of just chasing the ball. If he's going to find his way on the floor when the roster is fully healthy, this game and those types of possessions are how he is going to distinguish himself -- in the shadows as much as the spotlight.