Turnovers costly for Pacers in Philly, and Kam Jones wants to clean them up too
The Pacers lost again, and one-on-one with Kam Jones
NOBLESVILLE – Care to guess the Pacers record since 2019-20 in games during which they cough up 22+ turnovers? It isn't good, that's for sure.
That's what the Pacers just did in Philadelphia – they turned the ball over 22 times and fell apart late in a nine-point loss. The Pacers made shots, found some defensive success with their second unit, and got an awesome Andrew Nembhard game. But they lost because the possession battle got out of hand.
In the seven seasons since the 2020s started, the Pacers have had 22+ turnovers 16 times. They are 3-13 in those games with one of the wins coming in overtime. It's hard to win in the NBA, it's even harder with fewer chances to score.
"We turned the ball over a lot," Aaron Nesmith said postgame. He was then asked what the Pacers felt the turnover issues stemmed from. "Just taking care of the ball. Being more patient on reads. Our usual outlets that we throw, they did a good job of taking those away."
Tony East
Turnovers, generally, and damaging. Ending a possession without a shot is already a massive obstacle. In this case, it was even worse – many of the Pacers turnovers in Philly were of the live-ball variety. The Sixers routinely turned defense into offense.
They finished the game with 18 steals, the most by a Pacers opponent this season. It wasn't the Pacers highest turnover game, though, which speaks more to how the 76ers forced them into errors – the Pacers were put in positions in which they were susceptible to steals.
Pascal Siakam, Nembhard, and Nesmith combined for 15 of the 22 turnovers. All three saw combinations of aggressive defense, traps, and double teams that either weren't identified or handled correctly. It proved costly as the Sixers finished the game with 28 points off of turnovers.
The extra possessions for Philly showed up in the stat sheet. While the hosts only took four more shots than the Pacers (88 to 84), they attempted 22 more free throws. That's a huge gap to make up for, and the Pacers couldn't do it.
"I think a lot of times, they came from places we couldn't even see them," Nembhard said of the turnovers.
The possession battle has been an issue for the Pacers all season. While they do a good job of taking care of the ball (14th in turnover rate), they don't force many turnovers and give up, on average, more offensive rebounds than they pull in. It's hard for any team to make up for extra chances, it's even harder when it's the Pacers – they have the worst effective field goal percentage in the NBA. They haven't made shots and give their opponents more chances to do so.
It's an insurmountable combination, and one that just cost the Pacers again. Three or four more possessions would have gone a long way in a nine-point game.
Other things went well for the Pacers. After Joel Embiid crushed them in the first meeting between the two teams, the Pacers found a better solution to slow him down: put Tony Bradley on him. Those two were teammates with the 76ers for 20 games in 2021.
"Gotta know his tendencies a little bit," Bradley said of Embiid.
The Pacers also found a better pace, something assistant coach Jenny Boucek commented on during a halftime interview on the FanDuel Sports Indiana broadcast. A slower game favored the 76ers, but the Pacers found a way to make it more chaotic.
"We were subpar to start the game... a slow, physical game favors them," Boucek said. The Pacers were winning at halftime.
They were ahead 88-86 in the fourth quarter, too. But the Pacers ended the game allowing a 27-16 run over about nine minutes, and that decided the result. They've been poor closing games of late despite putting themselves in more situations to win. But the Pacers lost in Philly well before the fourth quarter thanks to a night filled with more ball security issues.
Elsewhere, Kam Jones in the G League
The Noblesville Boom moved up the start time for their game on Monday (the Indiana Hoosiers won the College Football National Championship later that night, if you didn't hear), and that made it possible for me to attend and get a longer look at Kam Jones, who was on assignment from the Pacers.
Jones is fascinating in that he isn't asked to beat guys off the bounce to create as much – rather, when he is afforded some space on the court, he takes it and turns it into something productive. He works well with other scorers and creators.
And he lets the game come to him in a way that is productive. Jones has gotten better as the game progresses almost every time I've watched him. That suggests he has good feel. "I'm just trying to make the right play every time. Whether it be scoring, hitting my teammates. Every single time, just trying to make the right play on both ends," Jones told me.
He feels completely recovered from his back injury, but he's still in a constant state of working on his conditioning. That's true of most Pacers players and even more so true for players in their first year with the franchise. He's learned a lot from T.J. McConnell about pushing through in the moments where it's harder to breathe.
Monday, Jones finished with 23 points, five rebounds, and eight assists in a 15-point win. He guided the offense well and made nine of his 16 shots, but he was disappointed to cough up six turnovers. Fitting, given what happened with the Pacers later that night.
Jones is using his G League chances to get reps, which sounds obvious but is important for him after an injury kept him sidelined for about two months to start his rookie season. Any chance to play, and prove himself, is valuable for the recent second-round draft pick.
Jones is frustrated with his effectiveness during his most recent NBA chance when the Pacers were in Detroit. Overall, though, he's pleased that his confidence has grown at that level. He's averaging 1.9 points and 0.8 assists per game across 11 appearances for the Pacers.
When he is playing, both in games and practices, head coach Rick Carlisle is molding his floor general abilities. "Just being a point guard," he said. "Being secure with the ball, being the leader on the floor, the coach on the floor when I'm out there."
It's a new system with much more talented players. Jones feels like he's slowly getting it down. "It's always something to learn, and it's always a learning curve. We have a lot of these same principles here in Indiana that we did at Marquette as far as shot categories, the shots we want to take, how we want to play," Jones explained. "So it's just getting better at that and building the chemistry with the guys on the floor."
Jones is averaging 14.4 points and 6.2 assists per game for the Boom. As the Pacers season, currently marked by a poor record, rolls on, Jones could get more chances at the NBA level.
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