First off, a mea culpa. I totally missed the second game and got the time zone math wrong on the third. I'll set two alarms and triple check the time for the next game.

Now, what happened on the court while I was being negligent?

Three games into Las Vegas, the Summer Pacers are 1-2. That record, as all Summer League records are, is a mere technicality. Even if the results did matter, Indiana rallied from 24 down to force overtime in one loss and lost the other on a block at the buzzer. They aren't exactly getting run off the floor.

Still, what actually matters are the answers to a handful of individual questions — some answers seem encouraging, some still pending.

Here's how it's gone.

Game 1: Pacers 99, Cavaliers 93

The opener went to Indiana, and it had a few interesting quirks.

All eyes were on Braden Smith's debut, and Smith spent most of the afternoon missing shots. He finished 1-for-8 from the field in 30 minutes. But the box score tells a more interesting story than the shooting line: five points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals. Eight boards from a 5-foot-11 guard, in a game where the Pacers went extremely small, is not a, well, small thing. Some guys know how make play bigger than they are and if Smith has any chance at making it in the league he'll have to do just that. Rebounding is a good sign for him, even if the offense was behind schedule.

The actual star was Rienk Mast. The Nebraska big posted 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting with 11 rebounds and three assists, and seven of those 11 boards came on the offensive glass. He also hit the shots that mattered: with 2:19 left and a 21-point Pacers lead trimmed to one, Yuki Kawamura found Mast cutting, he drew the foul, and got the free throw to push it back to three.

Indiana held Cleveland to 38.2% shooting for the game. The Cavs won the paint 50-38 and turned it over just nine times to Indiana's 14 — but the Pacers' bench outscored Cleveland's reserves 46-24, and that was the ballgame. (Meleek Thomas and Nae'Qwan Tomlin both had 20 for Cleveland; Thomas dropped 12 of his in the fourth trying to bring them back.)

Game 2: 76ers 100, Pacers 93 (OT)

This is one was encouraging, even though Indiana lost.

The Pacers fell behind by 24 points in the third quarter. They came all the way back. Braden Smith hit two free throws to tie it at 93 and force overtime, capping a comeback that had no business happening. Philadelphia then simply took over the extra period and won it.

The comeback was fueled by Smith and Kawamura. Smith had his best game of the summer: 16 points on 3-of-6 shooting, five assists, two steals, one turnover — and 12 of his 16 came in the second half. Late in the game he was genuinely orchestrating: driving past Matt Rogers for a tough two, splashing a three from the top of the key with 2:14 left, then finding a cutting Jalen Slawson for an and-one after drawing the defense. He also closed the third by hitting a baseline fadeaway while falling to the floor.

Kawamura, all 5-foot-7 of him, put up 12 points with three rebounds and three assists and hit a stepback three during the third-quarter surge. He has been Indiana's spark plug through three games.

Jalen Slawson led the team with 26 points — making the loudest possible argument for himself in an offseason where he's a restricted free agent fighting for one of three two-way slots.

The loss, though, came down to something structural: Philadelphia took 85 shots to Indiana's 63 and out-rebounded them 47-31. Johni Broome (23 and 11) and Labaron Philon (24 and six) were too much on the glass and in transition. You can't spot a team 22 extra shot attempts and expect to survive, comeback or not.

Game 3: Raptors 94, Pacers 93

The cruelest one. Indiana had a chance to tie or win at the buzzer, and Seth Lundy blocked Rienk Mast's shot as time expired to preserve Toronto's one-point win.

Mast was excellent again — 23 points and 10 rebounds, his second double-double of the summer — and had the ball in his hands with the game on the line. It just didn't fall. Lundy, who dropped 22 for the Raptors, made the play of the game on the defensive end.

Slawson also continued to excel. He contributed 21 points and 8 rebounds. Braden Smith, however, took a step back and failed to score a single point. He went 0-7 from the field and 0-4 from three. In fairness to him, he did drop 9 assists and the team was a solid +3 during his time on the court.

What we've learned (maybe)

Braden Smith is a basketball player. He's found ways to contribute even when his shot isn't falling. But if he's simply too small to score at this level, does it matter?

Rienk Mast is worth a closer look. Two double-doubles in three games, elite offensive rebounding, timely buckets. He's played his way into the conversation, which is more than anyone expected from a guy who wasn't on the two-way radar coming in.

Jalen Slawson is not going quietly. Back-to-back twenty point games from a player with a two-way qualifying offer in hand and a genuine logjam ahead of him. With Ethan Thompson in Puerto Rico and Taelon Peter still finding his shot, Slawson is making the front office's decision harder by the day.

Yuki Kawamura is the most fun guy on the roster, which is worth saying out loud even if it doesn't translate to a contract.

Indiana closes out group play Wednesday against Minnesota (3:30 p.m. ET, Prime Video). A 1-2 record won't get them far in the seeding, but that was never the point. The point was to find out whether the Purdue kid can run a team and who deserves the last two-way spot. Three games in, the answers are trending in the right direction.

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