Bennedict Mathurin scores 30 points to help Pacers beat Pistons, avoid Vegas hangover

DETROIT -- The Pacers outlasted the Pistons 131-123 at Little Caesars Arena on Monday night, thwarting any hangover from their run to the In-Season Tournament finals in Las Vegas.

The Pacers moved to 13-8 overall. Since the loss to the Lakers on Saturday doesn't count against their regular-season record, they technically are riding a four-game winning streak. The Pistons fell to 2-21 and have lost 20 straight games.

Here are four observations.

Bennedict Mathurin pick up Pacers

Bennedict Mathurin wasn't the topic of extended conversation during the Pacers' IST finals run even though he had productive games. He scored 20 points on Saturday and had 16 against Celtics in the quarterfinals, though he scored just nine on 3-of-12 shooting against Milwaukee.

He seemed motivated against the Pistons, however, and while everyone else seemed sluggish early and the Pacers adjusted to the double teams Detroit threw at Tyrese Haliburton, Mathurin was attacking off the dribble. He scored 16 points 7-of-11 shooting, including 2-of-4 3-pointers, in the first half.

As aggressive as he was at looking for his own shot, Mathurin also dished out a career-high 8 assists that included a couple of highlight-reel passes, including two highlight reel passes that he whipped into the lane for layups.

"I'm just becoming more comfortable," Mathurin said, "and trying to help my team win by making the right plays."

And he kept attacking in the second half, finishing with 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including 3-of-5 from the 3-point line and 7-of-8 free throws. It's his first 30-point game since Nov. 9, 2022. He also grabbed seven rebounds and two steals and turned the ball over just twice.

"Benn Mathurin played one of his best games as a Pacer," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "We know he can score. We know he can generate points. The visual awareness and the ability to deliver the ball tonight was huge. It shows the work that he's put in and real growth."

Tyrese Haliburton faces constant double teams

Pistons coach Monty Williams said in his pregame press conference that he was impressed with the Lakers' defense on Tyrese Haliburton, using long-armed forward Jarred Vanderbilt as his primary defender and extensively double-teaming Haliburton on ball screens, frequently with four-time All-Defensive team pick Anthony Davis serving as the second defender. Williams noted that the Pistons had made life far too easy for Haliburton in the teams' first matchup at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, when Haliburton had 26 points and 10 assists.

So out of the gate, Williams put power forward Ausar Thompson on Haliburton as the primary assignment and brought Isaiah Stewart up into a double team on the first ball screen Haliburton called for. Most of the rest of the night, when Haliburton got a ball screen, he found himself dealing with two bodies. He tried to counter that at first by taking deep 3s early in the shot clock, and he hit a few. But he also looked for more opportunities to facilitate.

Haliburton scored just 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting, but he had a six-point spurt in the fourth quarter to help put the game away. He also dished out 16 assists, though he turned the ball over seven times.

"I thought I did a good job of getting off the ball quicker," Haliburton said. "But seven turnovers is obviously not what I'm accustomed to. But this game was just about figuring out how to win. ... This is going to be the new normal for a little bit. Everybody is going to start doubling and seeing how it works. But it's different when you have Anthony Davis."

Haliburton said he's preparing to see these kinds of tactics all the time now and that he has a sense of how he needs to handle them going forward.

"Get guys in the right situation, getting off the ball quicker," Haliburton said. "Just figuring out how to attack differently. Probably play off the ball a little bit more, get off it to get it back, a couple more pitches to avoid double teams. My teammates did a great job, everybody chipped in, we had a great win."

Pacers veterans respond

With Haliburton getting so much attention, the Pacers needed more from veteran starters Myles Turner, Buddy Hield and Bruce Brown, and they got it Monday against the Pistons.

Turner took advantage of the double-teaming of Haliburton on ball screens. The Pistons usually had a tag man get in his way around the rim so he had to fight at least a little for his layups, but he still scored 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Hield's shooting touch was back as he made 6-of-9 field goals, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range, for 16 points. Brown didn't shoot much from outside, but still finished with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting. None of the three had their best defensive days, but the combined 50 points was critical when Haliburton had just 14.

Turner, Hield and Brown all found the going tough on Saturday against the Lakers, going a combined 8-of-29 from the floor. Turner and Hield were each 3-of-11 and Brown was 2-of-9 from the floor. From 3-point range things were even tougher. Hield, one of the most prolific 3-point shooters of all time, made just 2 of his 9 attempts. Turner was 1-of-5, and Brown 0-of-2.

"Myles and Buddy are pros," Carlisle said. "They've been around. They understand that with all the games that we play, disappointing nights are gonna happen. You gotta have a short term memory for the negative and look forward and think about things that you want to happen. Love the way those guys turned the page and loved the way the entire team turned the page."

Las Vegas effect was still real

Coach Rick Carlisle and the Pacers tried to downplay the emotional crash after their loss in the In-Season Tournament finals, but there was clearly some sluggishness in playing the NBA's worst team on a 19-game losing streak in a half-empty arena.

The Pacers' defensive intensity isn't great on their best days, which is why its one of the NBA's worst in points allowed and defensive efficiency. In the first half on Monday, it was a touch worse than usual, as even the undermanned Pistons scored 60 points in the paint and knocked down easy 3-pointers against both weak point-of-attack defense and slow closeouts. Almost all of those 30 buckets were layups, taken within a few feet of the restricted area under the bucket.

The Pistons' 123 points were the most they have scored in a game all season. They shot 55.6% from the floor and posted 1.19 points per possession. On the season, they rank 27th in the NBA in scoring with 108.7 points per game, 22nd in field goal percentage at 46.4% and 27th in offensive rating at 107.6 points per 100 possessions.

That being said, the Pacers got just enough stops when they had to and created 14 turnovers. They won the rebounding battle 43-30 against a small Pistons lineup, and surrendered just 10 second-chance points on six offensive rebounds while they scored 21 second-chance points themselves.

Once the Pacers actually got the win, Carlisle no long downplayed the challenge of the circumstances.

"This is one of the most difficult games you can have," Carlisle said after the game, "coming off the emotions of last week, the game Saturday, the travel, everything else. I just thought our guys did a great job of staying together, keeping their composure, and their aggression."

Haliburton said the Pacers had a meeting Monday afternoon to address what it would take to make sure their wasn't an emotional crash-landing after Vegas. The Lakers didn't even have as fast of a turnaround as the Pacers. Los Angeles was one of four teams -- the others being the Celtics, Warriors and Suns, who had Monday night off. The Lakers, Warriors and Suns all have national TV games on TNT on Tuesday.

"Nobody else had to do what we did," Haliburton said. "Nobody else had to prepare and play a game and then come right in here and play Monday. I think part of that was scheduling didn't expect us to be there. Us vets, we got together this morning -- I'm not really a vet, but rotation guys -- we understand that today can be a little bit of a trap game in a sense. It's a game where you really gotta show your professionalism. We talked about the maturity of this group. This right here shows maturity and it shows growth because we want to take care of the games we're supposed to take care of. This is a game that we came in expecting to win and we figured it out."

Pacers box score vs. Pistons

Indiana 131, Detroit 123

INDIANA (131): Hield 6-9 0-0 16, Toppin 3-5 0-0 6, Turner 10-15 3-6 23, B.Brown 4-11 3-4 11, Haliburton 5-12 1-1 14, Jackson 5-6 0-0 10, Mathurin 10-17 7-8 30, Nesmith 5-7 0-0 13, McConnell 4-10 0-0 8. Totals 52-92 14-19 131.

DETROIT (123): Bogdanovic 5-14 4-7 17, Thompson 8-10 3-5 20, Stewart 5-5 2-4 13, Cunningham 11-21 0-0 23, Hayes 2-4 2-2 6, Knox II 0-0 0-0 0, Livers 2-5 2-2 8, Wiseman 1-1 2-2 4, Burks 4-6 4-4 14, Ivey 7-15 4-4 18. Totals 45-81 23-30 123.

IND 33 33 32 33 — 131

DET 36 25 32 30 — 123

3-Point Goals—Indiana 13-31 (Hield 4-7, Nesmith 3-4, Mathurin 3-5, Haliburton 3-6, McConnell 0-1, Toppin 0-2, Turner 0-2, B.Brown 0-4), Detroit 10-29 (Bogdanovic 3-9, Burks 2-3, Livers 2-5, Stewart 1-1, Thompson 1-2, Cunningham 1-6, Ivey 0-3). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Indiana 43 (B.Brown 9), Detroit 30 (Stewart 7). Assists_Indiana 33 (Haliburton 16), Detroit 26 (Cunningham, Hayes 7). Total Fouls_Indiana 20, Detroit 18. A_14,988 (20,491)

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Pistons: Bennedict Mathurin scores 30 in Pacers' win