Pacers sputter on the road in loss to Grizzlies

Try as they might, Pacers couldn't keep up with the Grizz on Thursday night.

The Pacers have had their share of breaks in the schedule, but Thursday night was not one of them. After beating the Hornets on Wednesday night, the Pacers went to Memphis where they caught the freshly revived Grizzlies for Ja Morant’s home.

The Grizz were 6-19 after Morant’s 25-game suspension and they are now 2-0 since his return after beating back the Pacers, 116-103. Yes, the Pacers held the Grizz to 116 points, which would normally have the blue and gold in a great spot to win. However, the offense could only generate a season-low 103 points which included 34 missed 3-point shots.

The Pacers appeared on the precipice of getting run out of the FedEx Forum early, after falling behind 35-22 after one quarter. That deficit quickly expanded to 22 points, as the Pacers remained stuck on 22 points for about six minutes of game time as the reserve unit was simply walloped. With six minutes remaining in the half, Memphis took a 52-29 lead and then the Pacers fought back to deliver the bright spot for the game.

Over the final six minutes of second quarter, the Pacers trimmed 21 points of the lead to go to the half down just two points. Obi Toppin and Myles Turner helped turn things around on the offensive end as it appears Tyrese Haliburton was sliding into a groove. Aaron Nesmith returned for the final 2:25 and played like a man possessed, or at least not happy with his prior stint on the court. Playing in front of his Vanderbilt hoops fam, Nesmith seemed to be everywhere and hit a pair of threes to push the deficit below double digits.

The game continued to be a series of runs. After the Pacers took an early lead in the third quarter, the Grizz answered with a 16-4 run, once again, appearing to seize control. The Pacers answered with eight points in a row, but the Grizz flipped it with their own 8-0 run to close out the third quarter and a 6-0 start to the fourth quarter. From there the Pacers were onl able to make the score respectable. The offense just wasn’t there to get over the hump, even when they were earning stops.

As usual, size was a factor with three of the Grizz’ power forwards combining for 50 points. This isn’t to point all of the problems at Obi Toppin who had 22 points and isn’t on the floor the whole game. Continually having to deal with size mismatches is a problem the Pacers are going to deal with until they alter the roster.

Bruce Brown appeared extremely frustrated talking to the media after the game. His game has been in an offensive funk, particularly since the IST final in Vegas. He is now 1 for 18 from 3 land and shooting 21% from behind the arc in December. Combined with opponents working to force the ball out of Haliburton’s hands more often, that puts a serious strain on the offense. The Pacers are still the most efficient offense in the league, but Philly is closing in and until there is some consistency at both ends, the Pacers are going to continue having these up and down results.

Mad Ants are good

The Pacers G-League squad continues to tear it up. The Mad Ants will play in the G-League Showcase championship game against the Westchester Knicks on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. The Ants survived a near late collapse, rallying to beat College Park in overtime on Thursday afternoon in Orlando.

Now, the Mad Ants have a nicely balanced roster and are super fun to watch with plenty of athleticism to spare. Jarace Walker, Ben Sheppard Oscar Tshiebwe and Kendall Brown (serious flush) among others all had major highlight plays in the game. The Ants lost their second game of the season but are now 15-1.