Three takeaways from Indiana Pacers rough offensive night in loss to Memphis Grizzlies
The Indiana Pacers fell to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday night, and it was a new type of loss for the blue and gold. Their offense, which is still the best in the NBA, failed them.
They scored 103 points, their lowest total of the season. Their defense was good enough, holding Memphis to 116, but the Pacers still weren't close to winning. It was just their third defeat of the season when limiting their opponent to under 125 points.
During the Pacers best stretch of the game, a 27-6 run to close the second quarter, they were humming on both ends. "I thought we started talking. We started talking defensively, we started flying around.... our guys just locked in," assistant coach Jim Boylen said on the Bally Sports Indiana broadcast of what worked during that span.
That level of play never returned for Indiana, and they scored just 47 points in the second half. It was a night to forget when it comes to scoring the ball.
Indiana rarely has nights like these this season, so it's important that they look closely at it and figure out what went wrong. Their takeaways from the game take a look at concerns that typically don't exist.
The Pacers had a crummy night on offense
With how poor Indiana's defense has been this season, any outing in which their offense struggles is going to be rough. They are 0-6 when they score fewer than 120 points this season — given their high pace and random offense, inaccurate nights are brutal.
On Thursday, a lot of things were off for the Pacers. They made just 42.4% of their shots, the second-lowest mark of the season. The blue and gold were fine-enough shooting the ball from deep, but they really struggled inside the arc and scored just 32 points in the paint.
They burped up 16 turnovers, tied for the sixth-most they've had in a game this season. Half of them came from Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner, the team's two best players throughout most of the campaign.
Indiana took a season-low 11 free throws. That, combined with a poor night in the paint and a sloppy outing taking care of the ball, made it extremely tough for the Pacers to score. Credit the Grizzlies defense for making life difficult, but the blue and gold will certainly view some of their struggles as self-inflicted.
Tyrese Haliburton rarely got going
During the Pacers 27-6 run to close the second quarter, Haliburton was everywhere. He had six assists and six points during that span, and he scored or set up Indiana's final seven buckets of the half. He was great in that stretch, which gave the Pacers a chance in the final periods.
The rest of the game was not as promising for the All-Star guard. Haliburton finished with 17 points on 19 shots — it was the third time all season that his point total was lower than his shot count. He knocked down five of his seven two-point looks but went 2/12 from deep.
He also had four turnovers, though he offset that with 14 assists. His passing was fantastic, but the star guard has been frustrated with his turnovers recently. It was his fourth-straight game with a quartet of them.
Haliburton had three total points in the first and fourth quarters combined. Vince Williams Jr defended him well, but the Pacers offensive leader had one of his worst outings of the season and couldn't guide the blue and gold effectively outside of one effective stretch.
Andrew Nembhard is back
Second-year guard Andrew Nembhard returned from injury on Thursday night. It was his first appearance in two weeks as he's been dealing with a knee injury.
The 23-year old guard is one of Indiana's better perimeter defenders, and he is a steady hand as a point guard off the bench. His return should help the blue and gold on defense going forward.
He drew the Ja Morant assignment at times in this game, and Nembhard finished 2/4 with six points and one assist. He played for just over 16 minutes in his return to action.
Nembhard did a good job executing the game plan against Morant. "We're trying to be more active," Boylen said of containing the star guard during his halftime interview. "We've got to do a better job of keeping him out of [the paint]."
Morant took just two shots while defended by Nembhard, and the NBA's matchup data says the Grizzlies as a team went 1/4 when guarded by the youngster. His impact was missed and should help the Pacers going forward.
Indiana next plays on Saturday when they host the Orlando Magic for the second time of the season.
- James Johnson back with Indiana Pacers to provide wisdom and toughness. CLICK HERE.
- The Pacers can't just hope to outscore teams and win — their defense must get better. CLICK HERE.
- Pacers guard Isaiah Wong developing his point guard skills in the G League. CLICK HERE.
- Indiana Pacers end losing streak with much-needed win over Charlotte Hornets. CLICK HERE.
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