Best team in the West on the road? Light work. The Bulls at home? I wouldn't blame you for biting your fingernails.
The Pacers have been a Jekyll and Hyde team all year. Last night we got the good version. They jumped out on the Thunder early and, other than a brief lapse in the 3rd quarter, never really looked back.
If you listen to Myles Turner – and you should, he's a smart fellow – whether the Pacers win or lose come down to defense. “We’re a good team that scores a lot of points too,” Turner said after beating the Thunder. “That’s mostly what this league has come to. The difference tonight was our defense. Whenever we lock in on that side, it’s a different game for us.”
Although Pascal Siakam is not the perimeter defender he used to be, his size has has been a tremendous help in the team's current defensive turnaround (hopefully it lasts). Having a power forward who can protect the rim in addition to Turner playing some of his best defense of the year, has allowed Indiana's pesky guards to come into their own.
Speaking of pesky guards, look at this possession by Andrew Nembhard.
With 15 seconds on the shot-clock, Andrew Nembhard blitzed a mismatch & proceeded to seal off drives from three different players:
— Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) March 13, 2024
SGA, Dort, & Chet.
I wrote about all of the ways the starting backcourt for the Pacers assisted each other -- on defense: https://t.co/X5bdCUIAKL pic.twitter.com/G1gdD41J1B
Offensively, the Pacers did what they do. They pushed the tempo and shared the ball, leading to another game with the majority of the rotation in double digits.
group 👏 effort 👏 always 👏 pic.twitter.com/bW7Xp9jR13
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) March 13, 2024
On a back to back, we're likely to see Rick use his bench a bit more than usual. He specifically said that Walker would need to be ready to play again tonight.
“We need Walker tonight to be ready coming off of a physical game last night,” Rick Carlisle says of Jarace Walker. Carlisle said Walker’s defense posture and hard play were significant improvements over what he did in Orlando.
— Tony East (@TonyREast) March 13, 2024
After winning in Oklahoma, the Pacers sit in the 6th seed in the East, though the standings change by the day. Chicago is jostling for playoff position itself, currently sitting in 9th place. Chicago has a five game cushion before falling out of the play-in and needs to make up five and a half games to climb out of it. Beating us would go a long way to helping them achieve that goal, so they should be plenty motivated tonight.
Hopefully the Pacers can maintain their energy (especially defensively) from the wins over Orlando and OKC tonight.
Injuries
Doug McDermott remains out tonight, and James Johnson is questionable with his illness vs the Bulls. Mathurin, of course, out. Clean injury report otherwise for the Pacers for their final back-to-back with travel this season.
— Tony East (@TonyREast) March 13, 2024
How to Watch
Tipoff is at 7:30 PM ET.
TV: Bally Sports Indiana, NBA League Pass
Radio: 93.5/107.5 The Fan
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