Haliburton, USA earn showcase win over Nembhard, Canada to begin big week for Pacers in Las Vegas
The two Pacers guards played quality minutes in the showcase matchup with most of the roster in attendance to take in the action.
Team USA started slow but finished strong, running past Team Canada for a 86-72 win in their showcase game at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday night.
It was easy to minimize the impact Tyrese Haliburton may have on the USA squad as a possible 12th man. However, with Kawhi Leonard bowing out and Kevin Durant nursing a calf injury, Haliburton played a key role on the reserve unit, finishing the game with a team high +17 points in over 20 minutes of time on the court to entertain the over 20,000 fans in attendance.
The game was a mess at the start, looking every bit the part of a group of number one options trying to meld as a 5-man team. LeBron James, Steph Curry, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Joel Embiid started for the U.S. squad and quickly fell behind by double-digits before finding their footing or more importantly finding a way to put the ball in the hoop.
Then the reserve group hit the court with Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, Jayson Tatum, Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis and they were ready to run right away. Tatum and Edwards were aggressive while Haliburton looked a bit like Ben Sheppard with the Pacers, just moving around the floor and moving the ball, ready for a role as facilitator.
As the game progressed and the USA team took the lead, Haliburton’s game continued to expand. Bill Raftery was on the call for FS1 and continually commented on Haliburton’s great defensive ability, revealing that he’s a college announcer who must’ve been looking at his notes for Jrue Holiday. However, Halibuton was quite active on the defensive end, with a couple of early steals and rebounds.
Amazing how having Bam and AD around for dynamic help makes for a strong team defensive scheme that let Haliburton stay active defensively. For the game, Haliburton finished with 2 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 4 steals. His two points came off the fourth steal late in the game, resulting in a breakaway reverse dunk.
Perfect way to end a perfect first game for Haliburton, showing how he can help run that second unit which really gave the USA team boost in game one.
As for Nembhard, he played over 16 minutes and was often battling a bigger player on defense which we know he is quite comfortable doing, even when LeBron is trying to bully him. Ain’t happening. Nembhard missed all five of his shots, all shots we’ve seen him make all the time. One of those nights, but he was certainly in the mix to play with the long list of guards on the Canadian squad.
Two other players stood out to me for a few plays they made. Lu Dort looks like Derrick Henry on the court. My word, the man is a menace and plays far bigger than 6’3.
For Team USA, Jayson Tatum had some sweet buckets and I couldn’t help but think that he may be a different player going forward after delivering that championship in Boston. Unburdened by ridiculous hate and expectation, the man is going to be a absolute problem.
Squad showed up strong
With the Haliburton and Nembhard matchup, you figured plenty of players and front office folks for the Pacers would be at the game since the Summer Pacers tip off play on Friday. However, the whole squad showed up with suite seats for a little team building while supporting their teammates on the floor.
The Summer Pacers will play the Nets on Friday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBA TV.