Bennedict Mathurin, short-handed Pacers outlast more short-handed Grizzlies

INDIANAPOLIS — The short-handed Pacers outlasted the even-more short-handed but eternally gritty Memphis Grizzlies 116-110 in a Sunday matinee at Gainbridge FIeldhouse.

The Pacers have won three straight and improved to 27-20, which puts them alone at sixth place in the Eastern Conference. The Grizzlies’ three-game winning streak was snapped, falling to 18-28.

Here are four observations.

Bennedict Mathurin goes on the attack

The Grizzlies are easy the most injury-plagued team in the NBA with eight players listed as out in Sunday’s injury report, including guards Ja Morant, Desmond Bane and Marcus Smart. All are out for extended periods, with the All-Star Morant out for the year.

Those losses make the Grizzles a specific kind of dangerous, however, because they still have two tough centers anchoring their defense in Jaren Jackson Jr. and Xavier Tillman, so they play gritty and wall off the lane. They entered Sunday’s action ranking seventh in paint points allowed.

The Grizzlies were also playing without sharp-shooting guard Luke Kennard on Sunday, so they entered 6-4, 255-pound David Roddy into the starting lineup which made them even bigger and more physical even though they were lacking for speed and skill.

“When Kennard was unable to play, they put Roddy in the lineup and that was sending the message that this is going to be a physical battle,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “They’re physical anyway, but him in the starting lineup was a further message of that. As much as you try to prepare your group for how physical it is going to be, words don’t do justice to it.”

Driving against such a defense requires a fearless player and skilled finisher. Bennedict Mathurin is very much both of those things, and he had his outside shot working as well, so he was in a way the perfect antidote for what the Grizzlies were doing. The Pacers were playing without All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton and center Myles Turner, so they needed someone along with Pascal Siakam to step up and be a go-to scoring option and Mathurin stepped up.

Mathurin didn’t check in until the 7:23 mark of the first quarter, but when he did he went straight for the rim. The first time he touched the ball he drove straight from the timeline to the rim for a dunk and didn’t stop attacking after that. Mathurin scored 14 of the Pacers’ first 28 points and 17 of their first 33.

“The main thing for me was just to keep the game simple,” Mathurin said. “Just try to come out there and have an impact. It was working. It was working and I was scoring and getting my teammates involved. It was just knowing what the defense gave me. They were giving me drives early. I was applying pressure going to the rim.”

He finished with 19 first-half points, making 7 of 9 field goals and 3 of 3 3-pointers. He found fewer opportunities in the second half but finished with 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting including 3 of 5 from the 3-point arc. He also had seven rebounds, a steal and a block.

Mathurin’s drives helped open up other options and generally softened the Grizzlies wall around the lane. After scoring just 32 points in the paint against the Grizzlies in a loss in Memphis on Dec. 21, the Pacers outscored them 54-48 in the lane on Sunday.

“I thought Mathurin was tremendous,” Carlisle said. “He was tremendous. In the first half when we couldn’t get going, he was making the right play every time. The right drive, the right pull-up, the right read. And he gave us a lot of life in the first and second quarters. Tremendous growth by him this year with those things.”

Pascal Siakam helps Pacers score in the paint

The Pacers needed Pascal Siakam inside. Navigating the paint against the Grizzlies isn’t easy, and even players with good handles have trouble against Memphis’ size there. So it really helps to have somebody 6-8 with a 7-3 wingspan who can keep his dribble and rise up to score. Siakam is that player.

The Pacers’ recently acquired two-time All-NBA power forward scored 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting, and he commanded enough attention to set up his teammates. He finished with six assists against one turnover and also grabbed six rebounds and two steals.

“It was difficult to get good shots all night,” Carlisle said. “Pascal got us going in the third quarter with some really good screening and footwork. Was able to break loose. We hit him two or three times. That gave us momentum going into the quarter. That was big. He’s got the inside and outside dimension. … He’s going to give us really unique versatility at the 4 position.”

Siakam also performed on the defensive end when he was switched on to Jaren Jackson Jr. Jackson scored 25 points, but was 7 of 17 from the floor and scored just five points in the fourth quarter on 1 of 3 shooting.

“The last play of the game was one of the reasons we traded for Pascal,” Carlisle said. “Putting him on a playmaking big like Jackson. They ran a keeper, he smelled it out, was able to stay in front, forced a difficult shot and then the rebound and the game was basically over. He was 8 for 13, six boards, six assists, he plays an all-around game that really complements our roster.”

Jalen Smith, Isaiah Jackson step up in Myles Turner’s absence

The Pacers learned early Sunday afternoon that Myles Turner wouldn’t be available because of back spasms. Jalen Smith has also been dealing with those, but he stepped up in Turner’s absence.

Smith played tough in the middle and took advantage of the Grizzlies’ inattention at the 3-point line despite his 48.6% accuracy this season. He scored 19 points on 8 of 13 shooting, including 3 of 6 from 3-point range, and also grabbed 10 rebounds with blocked two shots. He scored 11 of Indiana’s 41 third-quarter points on 5 of 6 shooting in a tide-turning period. He also had three offensive rebounds in that quarter, which helped the Pacers post 1.55 points per possession in the period.

In the fourth quarter after the Grizzlies had rallied, Smith also hit a 3-pointer with 3:07 to go that broke a tie and gave the Pacers a 110-107 lead and his dunk with 35 seconds to go gave the Pacers a four-point lead that Memphis couldn’t come back from.

“Sticks played great,” Carlisle said, using Smith’s nickname. “He really did. As the game went along, he adjusted better and better to Jackson and his tendencies. He hit enormous shots in the game. The 3 he hit in front of our bench in the fourth quarter was a monster shot for us.”

Backup Isaiah Jackson also was productive, scoring 10 points and grabbing seven rebounds, five offensive.

Andrew Nembhard provides more solid work at point

Second-year guard Andrew Nembhard has had to step in and start in Haliburton’s absence and he had to carry an even greater burden on Sunday with veteran backup T.J. McConnell out for family reasons. He played 37 minutes, as the Pacers used wings Buddy Hield and Ben Sheppard to handle the ball when he had to take a breather.

It wasn’t Nembhard’s most efficient performance but it was another in a string of strong ones. He scored 16 points on 5 of 14 shooting and dished out nine assists against just one turnover.

It was Nembhard’s fourth straight game in double figure scoring. In that stretch he’s averaging 18.0 points and 8.0 assists per game and shooting 30 of 54 (55.6%) from the floor.

“He made key plays down the stretch again,” Carlisle said. “His numbers don’t look super gaudy. Sixteen and nine, those are good numbers. But he scored in traffic one time. He made the pass to Sticks for a dunk one time. He was tough defensively the whole game. … He was terrific.”

Pacers stats vs. Grizzlies

MEMPHIS (110): Aldama 4-11 0-0 10, Williams Jr. 8-12 2-4 20, Jackson Jr. 7-17 11-12 25, Konchar 4-5 0-0 9, Roddy 5-13 2-2 14, G.Jackson 6-9 4-5 18, Tillman 0-3 3-6 3, Williams 2-6 0-0 4, Gilyard 1-1 0-0 3, Pippen Jr. 1-5 1-2 4. Totals 38-82 23-31 110.

INDIANA (116): Nesmith 6-11 2-3 16, Siakam 8-13 3-3 19, Smith 8-13 0-0 19, Hield 1-8 0-0 3, Nembhard 5-14 4-4 16, I.Jackson 4-6 2-2 10, Toppin 1-5 1-1 3, Mathurin 9-14 3-3 24, Sheppard 2-6 0-0 6. Totals 44-90 15-16 116.

MEM 27 26 29 28 — 110

IND 23 28 41 24 — 116

3-Point Goals—Memphis 11-30 (Williams Jr. 2-3, G.Jackson 2-4, Aldama 2-5, Roddy 2-7, Gilyard 1-1, Konchar 1-2, Pippen Jr. 1-2, Jackson Jr. 0-3, Williams 0-3), Indiana 13-35 (Mathurin 3-5, Smith 3-6, Sheppard 2-4, Nembhard 2-5, Nesmith 2-6, Hield 1-4, I.Jackson 0-1, Siakam 0-2, Toppin 0-2). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Memphis 45 (Williams Jr. 8), Indiana 44 (Smith 10). Assists_Memphis 20 (Jackson Jr., Konchar, Pippen Jr. 4), Indiana 31 (Nembhard 9). Total Fouls_Memphis 20, Indiana 26. A_16,519 (20,000)