In win over Clippers, Pacers' offense gives a glimpse of what it could be at its peak
LOS ANGELES ‒ Pascal Siakam had every right to be antsy, because he has a life-altering decision coming up.
The two-time All-NBA power forward and two-time All-Star joined the Pacers in a January trade with the clock already ticking. The four-year, $136.9 million contract he signed with the Raptors that began in the 2020-21 season is set to expire June 30.
It would be perfectly justifiable for him to ask what the Pacers can be when they're fully operational, how they can maximize his skills, and whether they can put him in position to win another championship at some point. Siakam turns 30 on April 2, the sort of milestone that makes everyone ‒ and particularly basketball players ‒ start to ask themselves about their future.
But from the time Siakam landed in Portland on Jan. 19 to join the Pacers, he has been preaching patience to anyone who would listen ‒ media members and fans, but also teammates. He won a championship with a 2018-19 Toronto Raptors team that started 20-4 but had some mid-season rough patches and entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the East before surprising the No. 1 seed Bucks and dynastic Warriors to claim their first title. He knows what it takes, and specifically knows that winning a title requires not freaking out when things go wrong in January, February or March.
Siakam said he's even made a point to ease the mental burden on fellow All-Star and franchise cornerstone Tyrese Haliburton, who has been his best self just a few times since Siakam arrived. Haliburton strained a hamstring in January and had a post-All-Star break shooting slump in which he made just 20 of 94 3-pointers.
"I was telling Ty even when he was going through the stretch of whatever, missing shots," Siakam said. "'Yo, just think about April, May and June.’ That's when we want to be our best and peak at the right time. That's what we gotta focus on."
And on Monday, just a week before April begins, the Pacers got a hint of what peaking at the right time might look like. Their performance in a 133-116 pounding of the Clippers at Crypto.com Arena was arguably as close as the Pacers have come to matching the vision of what their NBA-leading offense could be when running fast, making shots, firing on all cylinders and giving Siakam the opportunity to go off.
"It was a good night," Siakam said. "It was a good night."
Indeed, it was the Pacers' best night in a long time.
Against the stumbling Clippers, who sit fifth in the Western Conference and have four Hall-of-Fame players including All-NBA wings Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Pacers avenged a 151-127 loss in Gainbridge Fieldhouse from Dec. 18 with their most efficient offensive performance in nearly three months.
On the second night of a back-to-back, a scenario in which they were 2-9 this season prior to Monday night, they shot 58.1% from the floor, a sizzling 60.7% from 3 point range (17 of 28) and posted 1.38 points per possession, their highest efficiency figure since their 150-116 win over the Hawks on Jan. 5 (1.39).
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They improved to 41-32, which, with nine games remaining in the regular season, assures that they can finish no worse than .500. They can't finish any worse than 10th in the East. They are 3-1 on their five-game trip, having completed a three-game California stretch 2-1 and a game at Chicago on Wednesday. They widened their lead for the all important sixth spot in the East, holding a one-game edge on seventh-place Miami and a 1 1/2 game lead on eighth-place Philadelphia.
Tyrese Haliburton snaps slump
A big part of the reason that they were so efficient, of course, was their franchise player looked like himself again, especially when shooting from outside the arc.
"I think a lot of it starts with Ty," center Myles Turner said. "I think he's really found his confidence these last couple of games. It's been good to see him happy again and back into it."
After a 26-point effort in a win over Golden State in San Francisco on Friday, Haliburton took a while to get going in a loss to the Lakers on Sunday, but he hit two late 3-pointers as part of a furious fourth-quarter comeback that fell five points short. Those shots seemed to send him into Monday's game with a rhythm ‒ though he wouldn't acknowledge it ‒ and the drop coverage Clippers center Ivica Zubac played on ball screens gave him space to step into shots. Haliburton hit five 3-pointers in the first half before he finally missed, and finished 6 of 9 from 3-point range and 7 of 12 from the field overall for 21 points to go with nine assists.
Haliburton is 13 of 26 from 3-point range (50%) during this trip.
"I would say I was just getting good looks and they were just falling," Haliburton said. "The law of averages, they were going to start balancing out. Shots were going to start falling like they always have. I wasn't concerned about that."
Haliburton's 3s made it easier for Turner to find space to operate in the ball-screen game, either through rolls or pops. He scored 24 points on 8 of 12 shooting, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Every Turner bucket that wasn't a 3-pointer came in the lane.
"I was just being aggressive," Turner said. "I think I was a little hesitant to shoot 3s in the past couple of games. Just no conscience tonight. I was just letting it go. I work on my shot too much not to trust it. My teammates were gassing me up, coaches were running plays for me. That makes it easier."
The efficiency of Haliburton and Turner spread to their teammates, who combined to knock down 7 of 15 3-point attempts. That included rookie Jarace Walker ‒ who coach Rick Carlisle called the most important player of the night ‒ who knocked down both of his attempts and was 3 of 3 from the floor, dished out seven assists and grabbed four rebounds, posting a +23 plus-minus figure.
When the Pacers hit the road last Wednesday, they were shooting 33.3% from the 3-point arc ‒ the No. 29 figure in the league ‒ since the All-Star break. Haliburton's slump was dragging them down, but so was the trade of Buddy Hield, one of the top 25 3-point shooters in NBA history, and the season-ending injury to second-year wing Bennedict Mathurin, whose 3-point shot had made major strides this season. In their 13 games since the All-Star break, they'd made better than 40% of their 3s just twice: against bottom-10 defenses Dallas and Detroit.
However, they've cracked 40% from 3-point range in three of four games on this trip and shot no worse than 37.9% from beyond the arc, which is why they're averaging 130.7 points per game during that stretch.
"That felt good because obviously we've getting to the paint a lot more, a lot better," Siakam said. "We were getting to the paint, but we were also had so many people hitting 3s, which is always nice. Ty, with the 3s. When he's shooting like that, we're pretty hard to beat."
With shots going in, the floor was wide open for Siakam to go to work. That's optimally how the Pacers want their offense to run, rather then forcing the ball into him in the lane when nothing else is working. His 31 points on Monday seemed to come easier than his 36 on Sunday, even though he had to step back for some of them. After 15 of his 16 field goals came in the lane on Sunday, he hit four jumpers just above the free throw line as well as a 3-pointer on Monday in a 12 of 20 shooting performance.
The Pacers' season has been largely defined by its inconsistency. They don't have a losing streak longer than four games, but they don't have a winning streak longer than six, and they have just one longer than three. They could easily arrive in Chicago without their 3-point stroke.
Still, Monday night provided them a vision of what they might look like when they're peaking and at their most dangerous. And they already know they'll at least have an opportunity to show off that brand of basketball in April with the hope of making it to May and June.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: With Tyrese Haliburton making shots, Pacers offense returns to form
