Don't mind the spinning saw and screwdriver. It's Pascal Siakam with all the tools.
INDIANAPOLIS – The guy walks onto the court at halftime like it’s a construction site. He drops two bags of tools at midcourt and pulls out a level and a saw and three stepladders, with hammers dangling from his belt, and pay attention because this is a story about the newest member of the Indiana Pacers, Pascal Siakam, and what he did to the Philadelphia 76ers.
He had a triple-double, is what Siakam did in just his second home game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and the Pacers dominated the 76ers for 48 minutes before settling on a final score of 134-122.
But pay attention because this is also a story about the halftime act, Roberto the Magnificent, who probably makes a decent living traveling the country doing these shows, but I’m buying a house soon and could use a handyman. Just saying. As for Roberto, he’s balancing on a piece of wood that is balancing on a rolling cylinder of some sort, and now he’s spinning a saw and putting it on top of a screwdriver HE’S HOLDING BETWEEN HIS TEETH, and then he starts juggling hammers.
Don’t look at me like that. I’m just telling you what happened.
Also, I’m telling you about the only person at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Thursday night, and there were more than 16,000 of us here, with more tools than Pascal Siakam.
Siakam's triple-double: 26 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists
They’re standing at the Pacers bench with their hands on their heads, and looking at each other like:
What on earth?
Siakam is just blowing them away in his fourth game in a Pacers uniform, finishing with 26 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. His sixth career triple-double comes one day after his first and still only practice since joining the Pacers on their West Coast swing.
This is the first game the Pacers have won since making the trade that sent Bruce Brown and two first-round draft picks to Toronto for Siakam, a two-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA pick, but timing is everything. The Pacers had been on mostly the road, mostly against terrific competition, and mostly without newly minted All-Star Tyrese Haliburton since acquiring Siakam. Before the game Pacers coach Rick Carlisle was talking about the difficulty of adding a player in midseason, even one as good as Siakam, and having to do it without the point guard.
“In some ways we have to make it a blessing that Tyrese is not available right now for him,” Carlisle was saying of Siakam. “His importance is highlighted even more.”
Siakam was holy hell on the 76ers, doing cruel things like backing down Ricky Council IV, giving him a shoulder for good measure, then fading away from 15 feet. As Siakam was jogging back for defense, Council looked angrily over his shoulder, like, was that really necessary?
A few minutes later Siakam bulled down K.J. Martin, just plowed right through him for another bucket, the play that had his teammates agog.
But Siakam was picking on everybody in a 76ers uniform, and that includes Joel Embiid, who scored 31 points in his first game since scoring 70 against the Spurs and Victor Wembanyama. It started early with Siakam finding himself isolated on Embiid, dribbling in and then back out, where Embiid followed him until BOOM Siakam was spinning and going back to the rim, passing Embiid on his way to the basket for a layup.
Another time Siakam was grabbing a defensive rebound, going 80 feet and zipping a pass to Buddy Hield for a corner 3-pointer.
Another time Siakam was isolated again on Embiid, eight feet from the basket, and Embiid took a step that way before remembering what had happened earlier. He stayed right where he was, which was fine with Siakam, who buried the open 8-footer.
Another time Siakam was grabbing a defensive rebound, going 70 feet and finding T.J. McConnell heading to the rim for a layup.
See those four plays I just described? That was four possessions in a row.
Also: TYRESE HALIBURTON, ALL-STAR STARTER
The other big news of the night happened around tipoff, where all the most important things happen: on Twitter. That’s where news broke that Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton had been selected as a starter at the 2024 NBA All-Star Game, which will be held, hang on let me look, ah right:
Here in Indianapolis!
Haliburton won the fan vote at guard by such a large margin — think Iowa caucus large — he could’ve coasted into the starting lineup on that alone. Coaches and opposing players know, though. And nobody knows better than Carlisle, who was speaking with reporters about Haliburton’s likely honor before the game.
“It puts you in another class. It’s a big honor,” Carlisle said, adding that Haliburton isn’t about to relax now. “You can’t exhale (and) I have no concern about him in that vein … He has much bigger fish to fry when it comes to this organization, city, and what he wants to be a part of — this team’s success.”
Haliburton, who has missed several games with a strained left hamstring — the Pacers are 3-4 without him — is averaging 23.6 points and an NBA-best 12.6 assists, and shooting 49.6% from the floor, 40% on 3-pointers and 86.2% from the line. He didn’t play Thursday but was honored by the crowd when his All-Star selection was announced during the first timeout.
The timeout came sooner than expected, because the Pacers were threatening to run the 76ers right out of the building. Indiana scored the first six points and just kept going, with Myles Turner blocking Embiid twice and Andrew Nembhard repeatedly beating Philadelphia down the court and the Pacers grabbing seven of the game’s first 10 rebounds. Pretty soon the Pacers are in transition and Turner is ahead of the field and Nembhard is finding him for a dunk that gives the Pacers a 15-6 lead and has 76ers coach Nick Nurse disgustedly calling timeout four minutes into the game.
And that was nothing. After the Pacers went into the break with a 73-61 lead, they started the second half on a 10-0 run that had Nurse disgustedly calling timeout after less than two minutes.
This is what the Pacers did to the 76ers all night, running them into oblivion, wearing them out, finally making them quit. Nurse waved the white flag with more than four minutes left in the third quarter, emptying his bench, removing every starter but Embiid, still several points away from his 22nd consecutive 30-point game — the fifth-longest streak in NBA history.
Embiid finally got his 30. That’s nice. But Turner played him nearly even with 20 points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
And the new guy was just doing silly stuff.
Rick Carlisle on Siakam: "Pretty special"
Siakam’s too big, see. He's 6-8 and 245 pounds, and he was bulling over Martin or shouldering away Council IV or just backing down his defender, whoever it was, until he was in the lane. When Embiid hurried over for the double team, Siakam was finding Turner alone for an open 3-pointer. That happened three times.
Siakam’s too quick, see. He was grabbing defensive rebounds and getting out in transition — an outlet pass to himself, you might say — and beating most players down the court. And he was going around Embiid like a traffic cone, albeit one that had just scored 70 points.
Siakam’s too skilled, see. He was grabbing a defensive rebound and taking off and seeing Turner near the rim, and in one motion turning a dribble into a pass ahead to Turner for an easy layup.
“Siakam was obviously tremendous,” Carlisle said. “You get a power forward with a triple-double, that’s pretty special.”
Said Turner: “It’s easy to make reads with him. Either he’s going to go score, my man’s going to help and (I’ll) be open, or vice versa. He sees the floor well, plays with a lot of passion and energy. He fits right into our mold.”
Added Siakam on his new BFF: "Having someone (like Turner) that can space the floor, that’s something I’ve wanted my whole career. He’s going to have those opportunities again. I feel like I can create that advantage almost every time down the court."
Doyel on Siakam trade: Pacers have rebuilt without tanking, adding Siakam to Haliburton
Late in the game the only drama was Siakam’s triple-double. And he was hunting it, driving and finding Andrew Nembhard for a 3-pointer for his ninth assist, then hitting Nembhard on his way to the rim for No. 10.
Only then did Carlisle pull out his best player on the night, allowing Siakam to hear the appreciative roar at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, a noise we’ll be hearing a lot around here.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pascal Siakam was holy hell on 76ers, just doing cruel things
