Doyel: Pacers lose ugly game to Toronto; here’s why I see progress
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Pacers needed the spunk of that little girl who was on the court before their 130-122 loss Monday night to Toronto. She was ferocious, growling her way through the Canadian national anthem and then growling some more through the Star-Spangled Banner. Problem is, Kinsley Murray – that’s her name – is just 8 years old, and maybe 4 feet tall. Not sure she could’ve stopped R.J. Barrett, either.
The Pacers needed those kids who were on the court at halftime. They were wearing red, white or blue gi’s and black belts, and they were chopping wooden planks in half – with their hands and feet, I’m saying – and they were twirling num-chuks around their body and spinning poles above their head. Problem is, they’re on Grandmaster Lee’s Taekwondo demonstration team. And he’s in Carmel, not the Eastern Conference.
Alas, the Pacers were left to play the fastest team in the NBA on their own, at a time when the schedule says this game wasn’t going to be easy. For the Pacers it was the second night of a back-to-back. For the Raptors, it was the first game in three days. While they were lounging around the hotel the last 48 hours, playing all the video games and eating all the St. Elmo steak they could handle, the Pacers were smashing the Dallas Mavericks and then going to bed late Sunday night and then having to do it again less than 20 hours later.
Seriously, the Pacers needed some of Kinsley Murray’s attitude, and some of Grandmaster Lee’s fight.
Instead, they had Bennedict Mathurin.
And for a while there, it was almost enough.
Progress: The Pacers are inconsistent now!
The Pacers do this. They get your hopes up by beating, say, Milwaukee four times in five games. They get your hopes up by reaching the championship game of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament. They get your hopes up by beating the Dallas Mavericks, starring Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, by 22 points on Sunday night.
And then they do this: They lose without a lot of spunk, without a lot of fight, to a Toronto team that has traded off some of its best pieces – the Pacers got one of them, Pascal Siakam, remember? – but came into Gainbridge Fieldhouse and controlled the second half.
This is progress in the big picture. Take it from Mathurin.
“Last year was different,” he said late Monday night. “This year, every game matters.”
Progress, right? We want perfection, clearly, but 82-0 isn’t going to happen. Good NBA teams occasionally lose to bad opponents, and that’s what happened Monday night. The Raptors have won three in a row, but at 22-36 they’re most likely heading for the 2024 NBA Draft lottery. The Pacers (33-26) are competing to avoid the play-in round of the 2024 NBA playoffs, and advance straight to the main draw. That’s the difference between these two teams – the Pacers and Raptors, yes, but also the 2023 Pacers and the 2024 Pacers.
Last season had few great moments for Indiana. This season the Pacers have beaten the Philadelphia 76ers on the road, but then lost the next game at home to Orlando. They’ve won at playoff-bound Sacramento, but then lost the next one to lottery-bound San Antonio. Win at the Knicks, lose at Charlotte.
Beat Dallas by 22.
Lose to Toronto by eight.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle doesn’t have much hair – look who’s talking! – but what he can grow, it’s gray. Nights like this aren’t helping, when he’s scanning the postgame box score and seeing this nonsense:
”We allowed them to shot 55% from the field and 43% from 3,” he said. “I mean…”
Carlisle doesn’t finish that sentence, but his helpless laughter got his message across.
Someone in the media threw him a softball – fine, it was me – by asking if this game was a disaster in the making: The Raptors play the fastest pace in the NBA, and had been off for two days. The Pacers were playing the second half of a back-to-back.
Fifteen years ago, Carlisle would’ve yelled at me for asking such a silly question. He’s softened. This is what he said.
“It doesn’t make it easy,” he said of the inconvenient timing, “but look, it’s the NBA and this is all part of it.”
Carlisle also has to know what a fluke this night was. Tyrese Haliburton, an emerging superstar averaging 21.8 points and 11.7 assists, had nine points and seven assists. He grabbed zero rebounds, and was 2-for-11 from the floor. By the end of the game he was so tired, and so frustrated, he missed both free throws. Up in the media seating, people were expressing the following unthinkable thought:
“They need to let anyone but Tyrese shoot it.”
Who said such a thing? Wasn’t me, and anyway, it’s none of your business. But it sounded a lot like our Pacers insider Dustin Dopirak. Don’t worry, I just ran this paragraph past him, and after he stopped laughing at himself – busted! – he did want me to add:
“Normally I’d never think such a thing,” he said.
Abnormal night all around. The best shooter in the building might’ve been the redheaded guy revving the yellow Indy car before the game. Looked a lot like Tom Coverdale. Remember him? The 1998 IndyStar Mr. Basketball winner from Noblesville. Helped shoot the Hoosiers into the 2002 national title game. On a night they were getting a combined 7-for-25 shooting from their starting backcourt of Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard – 2-for-10 on 3-pointers – the Pacers needed some of Coverdale’s shooting.
Instead, they had Bennedict Mathurin.
And for a while there, it was almost enough.
Bennedict Mathurin was sooooo good
Mathurin was spectacular on the court, and then after the game he was even better. Hard to do when you’ve just scored 34 points on 11-for-15 shooting, and added nine rebounds and five assists, but Mathurin went from great to pure greatness afterward when he chose these words to describe his night:
“Defense is our main thing, and I’m gonna say it: I was really bad on defense tonight,” he said after being bullied for 24 points by R.J. Barrett. “I’ll take all accountability. I look forward to being better the next game.”
That’s got to be music to Rick Carlisle and Pacers President Kevin Pritchard’s ears, because they know Mathurin can score at a high level. They believe he can defend at a similar level, too, but Mathurin’s never done it before, and you know how it is with kids these days: All they want to do is score, score, score.
Mathurin was more interested in discussing his defense than his offense, and this was a night when his offense was sublime.
“Mathurin’s shot-making held us in the game,” Carlisle said on a night the Pacers trailed 80-68 in the third quarter but stayed in range until the end. “Got down 12, and he singlehandedly kept us in the game. He was making some hellacious and really heroic-type shots.”
Insider Dustin Dopirak: Pacers waste huge nights from Pascal Siakam, Bennedict Mathurin
There was that 3-pointer in Barrett’s face, where the 6-8 Barrett looked stunned Mathurin was shooting it with him right there. Barrett lunged, but too late. The shot was good. Most of Mathurin’s shots were good, like the step-back 17-footer at the shot-clock horn, and the 3-pointer he dribbled into – sideways – after a ball screen from Jalen Smith, launching the shot over the closeout of 6-11 Kelly Olynyk. There was the hanging, double-pumping shot at the rim against 6-8 Gradey Dick, and then his best shot of the night. Picture this:
After falling behind 80-68, the Pacers are within 98-96 thanks to Mathurin. Raptors defensive ace Bruce Brown – remember? – is guarding him now, but Mathurin’s feeling it and All-Star Scottie Barnes can see what’s happening and now he’s leaving Siakam to blitz Mathurin behind the arc. Mathurin rises anyway and buries the 3-pointer in both their faces for a 99-98 lead.
Alas, as I’ve said, the Pacers had run out of gas. The Raptors were pulling away at the end, the most telling bucket coming with about a minute left when Immanuel Quickley had the ball 40 feet from the basket. The Pacers tried to double-team him near midcourt, but Quickley got past both defenders and headed for the rim, where nobody stopped him. His basket made it 125-117, and the crowd was leaving to enjoy what was left of the unseasonably warm evening somewhere else.
The crowd will be back soon, because this season is different, better, than we’ve seen in years. Zion Williamson comes to town Wednesday. So do the New Orleans Pelicans. So does ESPN.
Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at @GreggDoyelStar or at www.facebook.com/greggdoyelstar.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Raptors: Inconsistent Pacers waste Bennedict Mathurin's huge night
