Development opportunities take center stage as Pacers lose to Wizards
The Pacers "lost" to the Wizards Thursday.
WASHINGTON – Caretakers are important when keeping control of the ball. Lineup familiarity is too. Yet the Pacers had neither on Thursday night in their loss to the Wizards for the second time this season.
Andrew Nembhard started at point guard. He struggled with the "caretaker" part of it, though, coughing up six turnovers. Kam Jones was the backup, and he gave the ball away one time in his 14 minutes before being ruled out with a back injury. That's seven turnovers from the point guard position.
Jones didn't play in the second half. Nembhard didn't play in the fourth quarter. So the Pacers spent much of their Thursday night loss having no point guard on the floor – all of Quenton Jackson, T.J. McConnell, and Tyrese Haliburton were unavailable.
Jarace Walker, Taelon Peter, and Ethan Thompson took the ball across half court throughout the second half. Only Walker and Nembhard finished the game with more than two assists. The Pacers had 23 team turnovers and rolled out multiple lineups that had never played together before.
Tony East
"23 turnovers, too many," head coach Rick Carlisle said postgame. He was happy that the team found some successful lineup combinations down the stretch – the Pacers did have the lead at one point in the fourth quarter – but they were unable to score with enough consistency to win.
It was a game of runs, and the Wizards were the last team to surge. The Pacers led 97-96 with 5:42 to go, then the next 3:03 of play went 13-0 in favor of Washington. That stretch sealed the result despite one final Pacers push.
On top of their struggles with turnovers, the Pacers found it difficult to get into the paint and score. They finished with just 30 points in their paint, their second fewest in a game this season. It's tough to rely so much on jumpers with many of the team's best shooters not available.
And so, the Pacers fell. They're now 15-41, and this loss pushed them down to last place in the Eastern Conference. With the postseason out of reach, results like this aren't damaging to the Pacers, who once again have the league's top lottery odds. They play the Wizards again tonight, but in the meantime there were several other newsy bits from round one in the Nation's Capital.
Jarace Walker wows
Jarace Walker led the Pacers in points, rebounds, and assists on Thursday. 21 points is among his best totals ever, 14 rebounds is a career high, and seven assists ties his best-ever mark. He truly did it all, including two gorgeous behind-the-back passes that led to assists.
"I was just hooping," Walker said of the flair.
While the young forward did admit some of the rebounds just fell his way, his force on the glass was obvious. He called it a focus after the game and admitted he is particularly conscious of his offensive rebounding right now.
Of note too is that he scored so well while hitting just one three-point shot. Walker finished five two-point looks and made eight free throws – he made multiple outside shots in each of his previous 20-plus point games this season.
"I feel like getting downhill, creating for my teammates. I feel like that's where I made a difference tonight," Walker said postgame.
The third-year forward is going to get all he can handle in terms of minutes and roles down the stretch of this season. He aced his first test.
The injuries
The Pacers were without Haliburton, Pascal Siakam (more on him to come), Obi Toppin, Ivica Zubac, McConnell, and Johnny Furphy for this game. Then, in the second quarter, both Jones and Aaron Nesmith suffered injuries.
Nesmith collided with Jay Huff and stepped on his foot, leaving the game with an ankle injury and not returning. Jones was stretching out his back on the bench during the second quarter before going to the locker room for treatment. He closed the second quarter but he, too, did not return for the second half.
Carlisle provided more of an explanation postgame. "Kam had an episode with his back. We're hoping he'll be available for [Friday]. He was determined at halftime , if we want to have him available tomorrow, the best thing to do would be to pull him, have these guys treat him, see where he is in the morning, all that," Carlisle said. "Aaron's right ankle, obviously you guys saw that on the film pretty clearly, turned it over. He's out, he won't play tomorrow."
Both predictions from Carlisle were confirmed today. All of the players who were out for the first game of Pacers-Wizards are out against Friday, and Nesmith joined them on that list. Jones is questionable, as are McConnell and Micah Potter.
Taelon Peter with another career night
Taelon Peter finished with 16 points against the Wizards. That's his new career high in scoring, topping his old best of 14 which he set... in the Pacers previous game, which came against the Nets.
Peter is in a bit of a groove. His jumper looks tidy – he hit five threes against Washington on Thursday. It's his confidence that pops. He keeps shooting and attacking even after misses or mistakes.
That's where he feels the biggest growth in himself to this point in the season. "I think early in the season, I thought about the misses a lot more and didn't want to miss anymore instead of thinking of the next opportunity to knock it down," Peter told me postgame. He can play free right now.
Off to the side, Nembhard celebrated that answer. Peter is going to get more opportunities down the stretch, and the team will need him to be confident with more touches and shot attempts. The second-round pick is aware of the opportunity ahead.
"It's a blessing," he said of his coming role increase. "It sucks that our team's in this position and that we've had the injuries that we've had. But it's an opportunity for us two-way guys to get out on the court and showcase what we have. We're out here to win games and prove what we can do. So I'm excited about it."
Tanking notes
The Pacers were fined for resting Pascal Siakam in a game earlier this month, and Carlisle addresses that here. About 30 minutes before Pacers-Wizards, ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the NBA sent a memo to each team suggesting that anti-tanking measures could be coming next season. Please read again that it wouldn't become a thing until next season.
"Yes. It's great news," Carlisle said of the league possibly putting in these measures.
Siakam's personal absence and injury status
Siakam missed the first battle of Pacers-Wizards due to personal reasons. While the reasoning for personal absences are rarely revealed, Carlisle was able to touch on Siakam's possible return to play timeline before Thursday's game.
"I don't know exactly. He probably won't play [Thursday and Friday], perhaps he'll play Sunday. We'll see."
Siakam is, indeed, listed out for the second meeting between the Pacers and Wizards, but not for personal reasons. Instead, this time, it's for left hamstring injury management. The Pacers play the Mavericks on Sunday in their first home game since February 3.
Thank you for reading. Sorry for the delay on this story, I am sick and was way too slow getting everything together today. Pacers-Wizards round two is tonight, and I will be there with another dispatch. Subscribe to have it sent directly to you.
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