The Pacers take on the OKC Thunder this evening in a battle of backups. Both teams brought loaded rosters to Vegas but have now shut down their best players.

For the Pacers, the experience of Nemhard, Mathurin, and Jackson was evident in both games played thus far. After outclassing the Wizards in the first game, the Pacers dominated the Magic on Monday.

The Pacers got up early and never looked back, winning by a final score of 108-85. The Magic struggled to create against the Pacers' stifling defense, an effort that started at the point of attack with Andrew Nembhard and trickled down to the rest of the team.

Everything about Nembhard – from the way he carries himself to the way he controls the game – gives the impression that he's ready to take on a larger role in the regular season. He finished the game with 21 points, seven assists, and three steals. Impressively, he put up those numbers while shooting 50% from the floor, 40% from three, and three-of-three from the stripe. In the first game Nembhard struggled with turnovers, but he was much improved against the Magic, only registering two.

Mathurin did not have his best game but he finished with plenty of ink in the box score, as he tends to do. Though he shoot poorly from the floor (1-5 from three, 4-16 total), he managed to score 17 points by, you guessed it, knocking down 8 of 9 from the charity stripe. The bright spot for Mathurin was his playmaking. It didn't always look natural, but he made an effort to get his teammates involved when the ball was in his hands. That commitment led to a solid tally of six assists.

Jackson did his thing as well. He finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds on 54.5% from the floor. He continues to struggle with fouling, committing six against the Magic. I keep hoping that he'll develop some defensive discipline, but at this point I won't hold my breath.

Now that the three "vets" are done for the Summer, it's fair to say they held up their end of the bargain and looked ready for NBA basketball.

Jarace Walker had a bit of a comedown from his first game, at least on the defensive end, but he put in another solid all-around performance. He had a couple of nice assists and even flashed a bit of off-the-dribble shooting potential. Again, I won't judge him too much on the offensive end this summer, but I'd like to see him maintain his defensive intensity the entire game. I felt he had stretches where his head was in the clouds against the Magic, often failing to box out his man.

If Walker had a comedown from the first game, Ben Sheppard had a huge bounce back. He found his shooting stroke and made the Magic pay for giving him space behind the arc. He finished 4-7 from three and 6-11 overall. More than that, he played incredibly hard whenever he was on the floor. His effort resulted in nine rebounds and plenty of defensive plays that didn't show up in the boxscore.

The Thunder

The Thunder are on the second night of a back-to-back (apparently those exist in Summer League!) and, if yesterday's roster is any indication, we won't see much more than a skeleton crew tonight. Vegas is the second Summer League tournament the Thunder are competing in and as a result they shut down the majority of their team early.

Unfortunately for Isaiah Wong (or whoever steps into Andrew Nembhard's shoes as the starting point guard) he'll still have to deal with defensive terror Cason Wallace hounding him all game. Jarace Walker might also have an interesting matchup if he gets assigned to Keyontae Johnson, the rookie out of K-State. Johnson is mature scoring forward who is coming off a strong performance against the Rockets, where he scored 19 points on 64% shooting. Johnson came off the bench last game, but his strong play might have earned him a starting role tonight.

Things to Watch

So far the Pacers are 2-0 thanks to having much more talent and experience than their opponents. This is the first game where the playing field is closer to even. I'll be keeping an eye on how the rookies (and Kendall Brown) respond to being asked to carry the team. Who will step up and lead? Who will settle the team down when the game inevitably gets sloppy?

I'll also be doing a little standings watching. A win tonight would put us in great position to make the Summer League playoffs. If the game is tight, will head coach Jannero Pargo keep a tighter rotation to try to get to the postseason? Or will he open up things up to get an extended look at the guys at the end of the bench?

Join me in the comments as we find out the answers to those questions and more!

Tagged in:

Game Thread