Pacers use defense and new starting group to crush Wizards for win number three
The Pacers held the Wizards under 90 points in a win on Friday night.
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Pacers scored 34 points in the second quarter during their Friday night victory over the Washington Wizards. That isn't particularly noteworthy but is a good statistical launching point to explain what happened in the second half: across the final two quarters of the game, the Wizards scored... 34 points. The Pacers kept them at bay in a dominant win.
Washington isn't a very good team, but the Pacers entered the game with a worse record. The caveats can be held. And they aren't really necessary given how well the Pacers defended in the win. The Wizards scored just 86 total points, a stunningly low number in the 2025 NBA. They were off from the field, from the foul line, and had several turnovers.
"I think our intensity is a little bit up," Pacers star Pascal Siakam said of the Pacers defense recently. "We've got to keep building on this. I thought our energy and our effort on defense has been good the past three, four games or so."
An "it's just the Wizards," caveat doesn't apply, frankly. That group has scored 100+ points in 16 of their 18 games this year. In the other two, Washington scored 94 against the Magic on November 1 and 86 against the Pacers last night. Nobody else has been able to limit the Wizards the way the Pacers did last night.
Put another way, the last time the Pacers held an opponent under 90 points was on December 12, 2022 when they limited the Miami Heat to 87 points. The last time Indiana kept a team at 86 or fewer points was in November of 2021. So, opponent quality be damned for a previously two win Pacers team. They were excellent on the less glamorous end of the floor and it earned them a victory.
"We're starting to understand what it takes to win games. It takes an unbending commitment to the defensive end," head coach Rick Carlisle said postgame.
One of Carlisle's defensive focuses that he noted after the win – he actually brought it up pregame as well – is how many points the Pacers give up early in possessions. The cumulative point total conceded in one game during the first eight seconds of plays was a stat he cited multiple times. Slowing opponents down, literally, has been a focus.
Siakam explained the first three steps back toward the defensive end are important. It keeps opponents in the halfcourt, and thus makes getting stops easier. So far, that focus is leading to results – mostly in raw point totals as opposed to wins, though the Pacers have won two of their last five with a pair of close defeats.
The Pacers other clear area of defensive growth of late has been around the basket. The Wizards scored just 38 points in the paint Friday night, tied for a season low for a Pacers opponent. Toronto's 46 two nights earlier was the sixth-fewest of the campaign. All three of Indiana's wins this season have come in a game in which they conceded a bottom-nine (fewest for them) number of points in the paint this year.
"I just feel like we're taking matchups more personal. And I think that we have guys on the team who can really guard," Bennedict Mathurin said postgame. "It's about knowing that if you get beat, you have teammates back. That's the best thing we've been able to do the past two games."
In the coming weeks, the Pacers will play some higher quality opponents. Their defense will be tested. Yet even without the numbers, it's clear they are playing better right now and have been able to field roughly the same team for a few weeks. They can build some momentum.
One big thing and one big update after Pacers-Wizards
Jay Huff gets the start
For the first time this season, Jay Huff started at the five. His first two appearances in the opening lineup were actually next to Isaiah Jackson in a bigger pairing made necessary by injury, and those jumbo lineups came with mixed results.
Huff has been more productive of late. Since his breakout game against Charlotte, the big man is averaging 11.6 points per game while shooting 47.6% from the field and 37% from long range. That's progress, and closer to the production some expected of him before the season. His absurd block rate has held up as the Pacers have figured out how to keep him around the rim defensively.
Altogether, this has made Huff more productive. And he deserved a look as the opening five. His spacing can help Siakam, in particular, but truly the entire group.
12 points, six rebounds, and four blocks later, the change appeared to be successful – albeit (again, caveats not important given the Pacers' record) against the Wizards last-place defense. Huff impacted the game in many ways.
"I feel like my assignment is usually the same. Block shots, be up on the ball screens, and try to keep it simple," Huff said of his role with the starters.
The other noticeable thing that came from this switch is that Isaiah Jackson, playing with the second unit, was also active and effective. He had 10 points on 5/7 shooting as the Pacers rolled with a +23 margin in his minutes. Jackson logged two steals as well.
His chemistry with T.J. McConnell and the second unit was clear. And it made me look up a stat that I found intriguing: Entering the season, Jay Huff had logged 912 total minutes in his entire NBA career. Since Jackson entered the league in 2021, he and McConnell have logged 1,029 minutes together. So, Jackson's experience with the backup point guard exceeds Huff's total playing time.
That all coalesced against the Wizards. I still think Jackson has the highest ceiling of any Pacers center, and him starting is a fine alignment. But it wouldn't shock me if the Pacers stuck with Huff in the opening five for a few more looks. That unit had a good first showing.
The newly scheduled Pacers games
Pacers vs Wizards was the final NBA Cup game for the Pacers in 2025. I love the cup. Go watch Suns-Thunder or Pistons-Magic from last night and tell me the players don't care about the raised stakes. Anyways...
The Pacers went 1-3 in cup play (see excellent joke here), and thus did not qualify for the knockout stage of the competition. As a result, their final two regular season games can be scheduled, and they've been given two games against teams who finished similarly in NBA Cup play.
Here are the two games added to the Pacers schedule, meaning all 82 are now on the calendar:
-December 12 @ 76ers (1-3 in cup play), 7 p.m. ET
-December 14 vs Wizards (1-3 in cup play), 3 p.m. ET
Last season, the Pacers turned their season around during the NBA Cup break and earned two wins. Maybe, with better defense and new starters, they could again.
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Tony East
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