Indiana Pacers In-Season Tournament Finals loss to Los Angeles Lakers showed their need for size
LAS VEGAS —The Indiana loss to the Los Angeles Lakers in the In-Season Tournament title game perfectly illustrated one of the issues that the Pacers have seen all season. On the biggest stage, they were once again beaten by size.
Back in November, the Pacers fell to the Toronto Raptors 132-131. That the Raptors, who currently have the NBA's 23rd rated offense, were able to score so easily was concerning, and Indiana acknowledged it after the game. Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, and Scottie Barnes combined for nearly 70 points for Toronto that night. "Big wings have been a struggle for us all year," Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton said after the game.
That showed up again during the In-Season Tournament Finals and has been a theme for the Pacers for a few seasons now. Since they lost Thaddeus Young in 2019, they have been searching for capable perimeter defenders with size. At times, they got it from T.J. Warren, Justin Holiday, Oshae Brissett, Chris Duarte and Torrey Craig in the years since, but not consistently. None of those players are still with the blue and gold.
The Lakers, meanwhile, started four players who are at least six-foot-six-inches tall on Saturday night in Taurean Price, Cam Reddish, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis. Off the bench, they had Jarred Vanderbilt (six-foot-eight-inches tall), Rui Hachimura, (six-foot-eight-inches), and Jaxson Hayes (seven feet). Two-thirds of their rotation was over 6.5 feet tall.
Only four of the 10 guys who played for Indiana meet that criteria, and one of them was Bennedict Mathurin, who is skinny and unquestionably a guard rather than a wing. Myles Turner, Isaiah Jackson, and Obi Toppin were the only Pacers players with traditional size that suited up on Saturday.
The Pacers have found success with small ball all season long. They play extremely fast and have a high-powered offense — their personnel suits that style well. But they have been too small on a number of occasions this season, and it has cost them. It did again on Saturday against Los Angeles.
"Every team doesn't have Anthony Davis and a bunch of 6-8, 6-9 wings, so there's that, as well," Haliburton said after the loss.
Davis was fantastic. The Pacers had no answers for him as he rolled to 41 points and 20 rebounds, eye-popping numbers. Turner fouled out for Indiana as Davis gave him fits all night.
James was equally terrific for the Lakers, finishing with 24 points and 11 rebounds before being named In-Season Tournament MVP. The Pacers tried a number of different players on him with varying levels of success, and the six-foot-five-inch Aaron Nesmith was often the best option.
65 combined points is a ton, but James and Davis are excellent against every team. They average nearly 50 points per game combined, and they both played more minutes than normal in the In-Season Tournament setting. Indiana did worse than average against them, but they are stars. They are supposed to have big nights.
The other wings and larger players giving the Pacers fits is what was concerning. Reddish, Vanderbilt, Hayes, Prince, and Hachimura all were effective in their minutes, and Indiana couldn't string together a run with so many players having success all night.
Reddish had nine points, above his season average. Five of them came in the fourth quarter at a pivotal moment in the game. The Pacers finally cut the Lakers lead down to three, but Reddish scored over half of his points on the surrounding possessions. He added three rebounds and three blocks during the game.
The rest of the larger players for LA combined for just six points — all from Prince. They were a combined 2/5 from the field. They weren't shooting much. But their impact wasn't about the points like it was for Reddish, Davis, and James.
Instead, it was everything else. Vanderbilt had four rebounds, one steal, and two blocks. Hachimura had two rebounds in just under nine minutes, and Hayes had four rebounds in just over seven minutes. Those three impacted the game by doing the little things. Prince, meanwhile, did a little bit of everything.
All of those players, and especially Davis, were excellent on defense. The size made it hard for the Pacers, who only had 109 points, to score. Indiana averages 128.4 points per game. The size of the Lakers disrupted them. It shrunk the floor for Haliburton and slowed the game down, which favored Los Angeles.
"Yeah, I think one time they had a lineup of like James, Davis, Vanderbilt and Rui out therein like the first half," Nesmith said of Indiana's challenge against the Lakers' size. They made things difficult for Haliburton in a way that most teams can't. "I remember we've got to rebound because all these guys are coming and all these guys are over like 6-8, 6-9. So, it's definitely a challenge, and it puts more on us to box out and take care of our individual assignments."
Those individual assignments often favored the eventual champions, as did the rebounding battle. The Lakers pulled in 55 boards, 23 more than the blue and gold. "Didn't rebound, didn't get enough stops when needed," Haliburton said.
The Pacers are clearly a good team. They're 12-8 and have several impressive wins. Their style does work, and it all makes sense around Haliburton. But against bigger squads, specifically teams with many big wings, they struggle. They either need to find a way to combat that strategically or find a way to put more size on the floor themselves. It's been a theme for their season, and really, their past few seasons.
The In-Season Tournament was still a huge positive for Indiana. They learned a lot about big games, emotions, and attention while picking up two regular season wins. It was a successful week for the blue and gold.
But their size issues were on display in the title game, and it's something the franchise will have to think about as time progresses. "I'm not going to get caught up in the stats," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of the Finals. He was more interested in the big picture for his team, as he should have been as a franchise leader. But they do have some issues to address with their size, and it was a factor in the Pacers In-Season Tournament Finals loss on Saturday.
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