The Pacers are back in action tonight after six days rest. Ok, fine, technically it's only one day of rest but since the team totally failed to show up against the Magic, I'm throwing that game out.

Everything the Pacers normally do well, aka scoring and things that lead to scoring, they did extremely poorly against Orlando. Combine that with a typical defensive performance and you have the blowout that occurred on Sunday evening.

This is the NBA, there will be clunkers. Moreover, we play a fast paced, high variance style of basketball. Sometimes that variance will manifest as an 150+ point outing, sometimes it will manifest as a frigid brick fest. Sunday was the latter. I'm not going to dwell on it.

The bright side is that we got to see extended minutes for the rookies and Jarace Walker continues to be a fascinating player. He's got a bit of Isaiah Jackson in him. By that I mean, you may not necessarily be able to trust him to give you net-positive minutes but he's going to do a couple things that just jump off the screen – both good and bad. I compiled his plays from Sunday in the video below and it's a wild ride. One thing seems certain, however: his offense is very dependent on his three point shooting. How good of a player he becomes will closely correlate to how consistent he can be from deep.

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The Hawks

The Pacers take their third dip into the surprisingly warm waters of the In-Season Tournament against the Hawks tonight in Atlanta. If the Pacers win, they'll clinch first place in East Group A and will move on to the Knockout Round. In other words, the players and coaches will guarantee themselves a $50,000 bonus with a win. That may be a pittance to a $260 million dollar man like Tyrese, but I have to imagine some people in the locker room are going to want this one a little more than usual.

Speaking of Tyrese, he's currently sitting in pole-position in the Tournament MVP race according to NBA.com. After a dud on Sunday, he's primed for a bounce back performance.

What will the game look like tonight? Expect points, Vegas sure does...

The Cleaning the Glass numbers back up that prediction. Both teams are ranked top-five in offense and in the twenties defensively. For what feels like the fifth time in a week, the Pacers' opponents are one of the better offensive rebounding teams in the league, so finishing possessions will, again, be a battle that could decide the game.

Moreover, both teams love to run. Indy currently plays at the fastest pace in the league while Atlanta is close behind in third. The Hawks are one of the better transition scoring teams, so the Pacers will need to high tail back on defense whenever they miss a shot.

For a more in-depth breakdown of how the Pacers can take advantage of the Hawks coverages, I highly recommend this C. Cooper video below. They seem to play a very aggressive style of defense similar to what we played last year. Therefore, I'd expect Haliburton & Co. to find good looks all night. All they have to do is make them.

Also, if you're in the mood for deep dives, this article on Rick Carlisle's offense is worth a gander. Plenty of video examples to help explain why we're so damn hard to defend.

Rick Plays the Hits: The Concepts Fueling the Indiana Pacers’ Leading Offense | Swish Theory
After two years of missing the playoffs, Rick Carlisle slightly pushed the pace for Indiana’s timeline by signing Bruce Brown after excellent playoff displays with the Denver Nuggets. Some were slightly perplexed by this move, given they still had young players who needed theoretical room to grow. W…
Swish TheoryJoe Hulbert

Injuries

Nembhard was questionable as of yesterday. No update on whether or not he'll play as of the time of writing.

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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