INDIANAPOLIS — When Pascal Siakam, Bennedict Mathurin and Andrew Nembhard checked in along with fellow starters Jay Huff and Ethan Thompson with 7:54 to play in Monday’s fourth quarter, the Pacers were on the verge of letting what had been a 19-point third quarter slip away, clinging to a two-point edge.
And in the first two minutes they were on the floor, they not only watched what was left of that lead evaporate, they found themselves with a two-possession deficit. The Kings scored on three straight possessions to take a four-point lead on a Russell Westbrook jumper with 5:59 left.
But seemingly right in that moment, the Pacers’ top three healthy players — the closest thing they have left to stars in this injury-ravaged, seemingly hexed season — decided they simply were not going to take another loss. A Nembhard 3-pointer started an 11-0 run in which he scored eight points and Mathurin scored the other three. The Pacers outscored the Kings 19-4 in the last 5:59 with Nembhard, Mathurin and Siakam accounting for 17 of the 19 points. They didn’t give up a point in the last 2:59 — thanks in large part to what Mathurin and Nembhard did on Westbrook and Zach LaVine — and took home a 116-105 victory for their fourth win in their last six tries after starting 2-16, improving to 6-18 overall.
“I think we were just better on both sides of the ball,” Mathurin said. “We’ve taken responsibility to, you know, bigger things and I feel like we’ve done a great job closing games.”
It was more than fitting that it was Nembhard, Mathurin and Siakam that put the pedal down in the fourth, because they were the ones who built the lead in the first place. All three scored 20-plus points for the first time this season and they combined for 76 of the Pacers’ 116 points. Nembhard posted 28 and 12 assists. Mathurin scored 25, hitting four 3-pointers and Siakam scored 23 on 10 of 21 shooting to go with five rebounds and three assists.
The Pacers got necessary contributions from others. Forward Jarace Walker scored 12 points, newly signed two-way contract guard Ethan Thompson chased down five critical rebounds and more loose balls, and the 10-day hardship exception guard had seven key points in the early going. But perhaps more than in any other game this season, Nembhard, Mathurin and Siakam set the tone early and then took it upon themselves to put the game away in the end.
“Those three guys were great,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “… Those three guys are our three leaders, really. I’ve talked to the three of them together a few times in the last week or 10 days. And Benn is in that group now along with (Aaron) Nesmith and (T.J.) McConnell. Those guys are our veteran leaders.”
Carlisle doesn’t remember saying that it’s important for the Pacers’ stars to operate and produce like stars — “That’s not one of my phrases,” he said Monday — but it was in fact a point he made on Nov. 21 after the Pacers’ loss to the Cavaliers in Cleveland. Mathurin had returned to the lineup Nov. 17 from a toe injury and Nembhard had returned on Nov. 8 from a left shoulder strain.
Nembhard scored 32 points in Cleveland, Siakam had 26 and Mathurin had 21. Carlisle acknowledged the Pacers needed more from others but noted the obvious. With All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton out for the season with an Achilles tendon tear, Siakam, Mathurin and Nembhard were the players who would need to shoulder the heaviest burden.
“Obviously, we need our star guys to be stars,” Carlisle said then. “(Nembhard) is one of our stars. Pascal is one of our stars. Benn is going to have to be one of our stars. Star players gotta do everything, not just score. We’re going to lean heavily on these guys to take defensive matchups, to be leaders on the floor and they need to score the ball. Those three guys in particular are very, very important.”
The Pacers are still tied with the Clippers and Kings for the third worst record in the NBA and they have the second-worst record in the East, but having three players who operate at the level of Nembhard, Mathurin and Siakam has given them the ability to at least hang with contenders and to defeat and sometimes even dominate other squads in lottery position. In Mathurin’s first game back, the Pacers lost their eighth straight game with the last six of those all coming by 15 points or more. Indiana beat the Hornets in its next game. The Pacers are 5-5 starting with the win over Charlotte and two of the five losses came by five points or fewer. Three of their four wins have come by double figures.
Siakam, who was carrying the Pacers before Nembhard and Mathurin returned, has remained the most productive and consistent of the group. He’s appeared in all but one of the Pacers’ 24 games. He’s leading the Pacers with 24.5 points per game — which would be a career-high — and he’s also first on the team in rebounding (7.0) and steals (1.3) and third in assists with 4.1 per game behind point guards Nembhard and McConnell.
“Pascal is a guy we take for granted,” Carlisle said.
Mathurin and Nembhard, meanwhile, have had to adapt to different roles than the ones they had last season. Nembhard has been the near-constant ball-handler and Mathurin has been free to score more as a starter but also been required to take on tougher defensive assignments, often taking on top perimeter scorers and ball-handlers to ease the burden on Nembhard.
And they’ve both shown steady growth. Mathurin had a tough night guarding Westbrook, who posted 24 points, 14 assists and 12 rebounds in a triple-double, but he and Nembhard turned it up down the stretch. That was after Mathurin guarded the Bulls’ Coby White on Friday. White scored 22 points but was 6 of 14 from the floor and 1 of 5 from 3.
Meanwhile, he’s averaging a career-high 21.5 points per game, shooting 46% from the floor and 43% from 3-point range, which is by far a career-best despite the fact that he’s shooting at much higher volume from beyond the arc than ever before. He’s 10 of 20 from 3 in just the last two games and 14 of 27 from 3 (51.9%) in the month of December.
“I’ve been able to shoot the ball more and it’s going in,” Mathurin said. “There’s going to be days when the ball is not going in. Recently, it has. So, seeing how it feels so when it’s not going in anymore I know what to get back to.”
Nembhard is third on the team with a career-high 17.9 points per game and first with 6.6 assists per game. The higher volume that has come in Haliburton’s absence has brought a slight downtick in efficiency, but he’s been sharper in that regard and also been more impactful on defense. He’s taking on fewer primary ball-handlers and more shooting guards, but he’s taking some of them out of the game. He held the Bulls’ Josh Giddey to nine points on 2 of 9 shooting Friday and Zach LaVine to a relatively quiet 16 points on Monday. Nembhard also shifted over to guarding Westbrook for a few possessions in the fourth quarter and helped finally slow him down, all while scoring 12 fourth-quarter points on 4 of 7 shooting.
“He led us in the fourth quarter in a big way,” Carlisle said. “He wanted the ball. Their switching was bogging. us down, causing some problems. He simply willed his way to some baskets, hit a huge 3.”
Nembhard, Siakam and Mathurin have to create a little more off the bounce than they did with Haliburton around, but they still have to create easy, quick score opportunities for each other and jump on catch-and-shoot 3s and transition runout layups. They’re getting a better sense of how to set each other up and also how to stay out of each other’s way.
“We know each other more and more the more we play together,” Mathurin said. “Everybody can really get a bucket, between me, Drew and Pascal. So it’s just knowing exactly how we want to get a bucket. … It’s just about knowing and being there for each other.”
And that allows all three to operate like the stars the Pacers need them to be.
Dustin Dopirak covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on IndyStarTV and with the Pacers Insider newsletter.
