Pacers start fast and then hang on for OT preseason win over Timberwolves
The Pacers tipped off preseason picking up where they left off by picking up the pace in a wild and entertaining OT practice win.
Pacers were off and running from the opening tip to start their preseason schedule. Five minutes into the game, the Pacers were up 20-10, this despite three fouls in a little over two minutes from starting center Isaiah Jackson. The starters looked ready to roll, the reserve group found their groove and pushed the lead to 24 points before the deep bench let the lead slip away forcing a dreaded overtime period where the Pacers secured a 135-134 after former Pacers Enrique Freeman bounced a 3-ball at the buzzer.
Preseason action at its finest.
So, back to the tip, Pascal Siakam, Aaron Nesmith and Bennedict Mathurin joined IJax and Nembhard in the starting lineup. Mathurin started out guarding Anthony Edwards, giving him fits on the first possession before the TWolves star made an out of rhythm fade away J through the pressure.
Surprisingly, Tony Bradley was the first center sub off the bench but the Pacers kept running. On consecutive possessions, Andrew Nembhard scored on a layup after a Minny make and then pushed the pace on the next possession to draw a foul on Mike Conley. Couldn’t help but think Conley, after 18 seasons at age 37, was wondering if he could call it a night early.
The starters played about seven minutes before giving way to the second unit with Jay Huff, Obi Toppin, Jarace Walker, Johnny Furphy and TJ McConnell. That’s a long athletic group alongside TJ Macs. Huff replaced Bradley which made his emergency stint in place of IJax more logical.
Despite that length on the second unit, rebounding was a problem as they settled into their run. They also struggled generating half court offense with Walker and Furphy deferring a bit too much, trying to let the game come to them. Those guys have to be hard to guard if they want to secure a spot in the rotation. To be fair, once that group broke a sweat, the rebounding and overall play improved.
The Wolves kept Ant Edwards in for the full first quarter. Walker picked up the assignment and show up nicely, also giving up a well challenged perimeter shot that was too good, then avoiding a foul on a pump fake to contest and force Ant to miss another three to end the quarter.
The Pacers scored 37points in the opening quarter without Tyrese Haliburton, relying on a familiar script of effort and pace to relentlessly challenge the TWolves. This type of play continued throughout the first half much of the game until things went goofy in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Here are a few individual notes:
Bennedict Mathurin had a couple of finishes in the first half that defied logic and at least a couple of laws of physics. For the first, he finish through a foul which had him tossing the ball at the rim which somehow banged in. For the other finish, he went with a reverse curly Q finish (something like that) which went high above the rim before easing through the hoop.
TJ McConnell appeared to pick up where he left off in June with 7 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds in 8 first half minutes. Unfortunately, TJM’s night ended early when he limped back to the locker room with a sore left hammy. No bueno, but if anyone will be ready to roll without much preseason action, it will be McConnell.
Just before the half, Delon Wright joined McConnell in the locker room after getting rocked in the head on a steal attempt by Jaylen Clark. With Kam Jones and Ben Sheppard out, rookie Taelon Peter and Quenton Jackson picked up some extra minutes. Certainly not the position the Pacers would choose for a rash of injuries. Hopefully, they are short-term setbacks.
Starters Siakam, Nesmith and Mathurin all played 14 minutes. Siakam and Nesmith in particular appeared ready for postseason action. Pascal finished with 14 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals while knocking down 3 of 5 shots from behind the arc. Nesmith added 12 points and a steal while making 2 of 4 3-balls. Mathurin had 8 points and 4 rebounds and made his only 3PA, but also had 3 turnovers.
Nembhard played 11 minutes after jumpstarting the game. He, too had 8 points along with 2 assists and 2 rebounds. He was unable to coax a 3-ball to go in, so hopefully we don’t have to wait for the playoffs before that shot starts falling, again.
The center group saw IJax and Jay Huff play the bulk of the most meaningful minutes with other rotation players. James Wiseman did play out the game with the deep reserves. We’ll see if Huff was given the backup big minutes for this game while Wiseman may have that spot for the OKC game on Saturday. Huff finished with 6 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and a nice assist to Furphy. He did pass up a couple of 3-point shots, and missed the only one he took. The battle for those rotation minutes will continue.
Furphy and Walker both finished with 12 points and were both quite active, making a nice duo on the floor together. Their games were far from clean with too many turnovers and some defensive lapses, but they combined for one of the better highlights of the night. Walker forced a steal which Taelon Peter was able to grab on the floor to start a transition opportunity which ended with Walker tapping a pass to Furph for his signature right handed hammer dunk. Fun stuff. Walker also returned for the overtime period and tried to do a bit too much as the top option on the floor. However, his defense on the final possession was up to the task, shutting down his man and helping force Minny into a contested shot that bounced at the buzzer.
A reserve group with Peter and Jackson at guards started the second half and pushed the lead out before the deep reserves from Minnesota made it a game in the third quarter. Johnny Juzang (sing his name to Johnny Ryall) went on a heater for the Wolves making 6 of 8 threes to cut the lead to one before RayJ Dennis stopped the bleeding. However, another late run by the deep bench, including Alize Johnson and Enrique Freeman, of the Wolves delivered the home team and the Pacers were able to close out the win. Both teams played 18 players and somehow they were unable to avoid overtime.
The Pacers play their first preseason game at the Fieldhouse on Saturday at 7 p.m. ET when they host the OKC Thunder. Playing these strong teams from the West in preseason provides some quality reps for the Pacers as they adjust to life without Haliburton. At least for Game 1, they were up to the task and have some positives to build on while still developing the inexperienced portion of the playing rotation they will rely on this season.