Pacers can't stop Wizards when it counts, return home to face Mavericks
The weirdness continues after the Pacers were swept by the Wizards and return home with a loaded injury report.
The Pacers were swept in D.C. after their 131-118 loss to the Wizards on Friday night. The loss took a familiar path of late, with a solid first half effort and lead wiped away by too many turnovers and not enough defense in the second half in a battle of deep benches on both sides. The Pacers gave up 30 points on their 20 turnovers which left them -17 in that category despite the Wiz adding 18 turnovers of their own. Beautiful game, it was not.
In fact, we saw a “who’s who” lineup for the Wiz much of the night, although not in a prestigious list of notable players sense, but instead evoking the repeated inquiry of, “Who’s that, again?” The Wiz leaned on a full reserve lineup for much of their fourth quarter success, which when their injury report is taken into consideration made that their third string squad doing damage.
Alondes Williams scored 11 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter on an efficient 9 for 11 shooting night for the game with 10 rebounds for good measure. William, along with Sharife Cooper (oh, yeah, Auburn) were making things go for the Wiz as they scored 39 fourth-quarter points to put away the Pacers late without drama.
To be fair, Wizards fans were likely questioning the identity of several Pacers playing in that second half run, as well. Micah Potter, Kobe Brown and Taelon Peter likely haven’t broken through the consciousness of the general NBA fan thus far.
Jarace Walker played 31 minutes and much of the fourth but was not as impactful as the prior game against the Wiz. He did have a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds, along with 6 assists, but he needed 11 shots and 9 of those were from behind the arc and also unloaded 5 turnovers.
Kam Jones and Taelon Peter both played heavy minutes throughout the game and both struggled getting the ball in the hoop with Peter making just 2 of 8 threes and finishing with 12 points. Jones struggled to shoot from anywhere, scoring 4 points on a 2 for 9 shooting night. He did have 11 assists, although 6 turnovers negated some of those gains.
While this sounds like I’m complaining about Jarace, Jones and Peter, the trio continues to have great on-court body language, playing confidently and looking comfortable on the floor. The surest sign of growth from Jarace Walker is that I’m pointing out that his play was not up to the level of the prior night, yet he stil had a double-double with six assists. Weird season, weird expectations.
TJ McConnell, Jay Huff and Ben Sheppard all started but did not play starters minutes in the end. McConnell eased his way back into action with 9 points in 15 minutes. Jay Huff was simply too good, making 5 threes and scoring 22 points in just under 16 minutes before his night ended in the third quarter. Shep had 8 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in 20 minutes of burn.
The trio was certainly helpful in pushing the Pacers to a 68-57 lead at the half when it appeared the Pacers may not be able to help winning this one going away. But credit to the Wiz reserves for getting in the muck and finding a way to seize control of an extremely sloppy game for the win.
Now what?
The Pacers return home for the next four games starting with the Mavericks on Sunday evening. The Mavs have adjusted course and abandoned any playoff pursuit for this season. They arrive at the Fieldhouse on a 10-game losing streak with Kyrie Irving officially tapping out for the season and rookie sensation, Cooper Flag dealing with a foot injury and listed out.
The Pacers may have some or all of the Siakam, Nembhard, Nesmith trio back for the Mavs, who are still able to run out a lineup of pros most know and have seen have some success in this league (I said some, not a lot). Khris Middleton, PJ Washington, Daniel Gafford can get things done and you never know which Klay Thompson may show up off the bench. Klay has never been shy about giving the Pacers buckets.
Pacers vs. Mavericks
Where: Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN
When: Sunday, February 22, 2026 - 5:00 p.m. ET
TV: FanDuel Sports Network
Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan
Odds: Pacers +2.5
Projected Starters
Pacers: Andrew Nembhard, Ben Sheppard, Kobe Brown, Jarace Walker, Jay Huff
Mavericks: Tyus Jones, Naji Marshall, Khris Middleton, PJ Washginton, Daniel Gafford
Injuries
Pacers: Pascal Siakam (hamstring) - questionable, Andrew Nembhard (back) - questionable, Kam Jones (back) - questionable, TJ McConnell (hammy) - questionable, Micah Potter (ankle) - questionable, Aaron Nesmith (ankle) - out, Ivica Zubac (ankle) - out, Johnny Furphy (knee) - out, Obi Toppin (hammy) - out, Tyrese Haliburton (Achilles) - out
Mavericks: Max Christie (ankle) - questionable, Cooper Flagg (foot) - out, Kyrie Irving (knee) - out, Dereck Lively II (foot) - out