Pacers sit top players, lose to Utah in game with lottery implications

Pacers dramatically better than last time they sat out top players

The Pacers’ last back-to-back was Jan. 16 and 17, and on the second night of that one against the Pistons in Detroit, they also gave a rest day to their top players. Bennedict Mathurin was already out with a thumb sprain, but Pascal Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith and T.J. McConnell all sat out for rest or injury management purposes.

Not surprisingly, the Pacers had their doors blown off by the first-place team in the East, 121-78. With all of their top scorers out, they couldn’t find any offense at all, especially in the first half. They scored just 11 points in the first quarter and had all of 25 points at halftime. The second half was better but they still finished with a season low in scoring.

It was notable then, that with the Pacers choosing to sit Siakam, Nembhard, Nesmith, McConnell and Mathurin on Tuesday on the second night of a back-to-back again that they put out a dramatically more competitive and entertaining product this time, especially on the offensive end. It obviously made a difference that the Pacers were playing another bottom-of-the-standings team in Utah which was short-handed after making a major trade to acquire Jaren Jackson Jr. in the afternoon. The Jazz had to part with four players in the trade and had no chance to get the four players they acquired into Indy by gametime. Still, the seven players the Jazz used were still competitive and the Pacers managed to match them.

It took the Pacers less than three minutes to score 11 points to match the first-quarter total of the Detroit game. They had 25 points by the 2 minute mark of the first quarter, matching their first half total. They hit 78 points when there was still 5:13 to go in the third quarter. They held a 10-point first half lead and erased an eight-point Jazz lead in the second half. After making just 28 field goals against the Pistons, they hit 45 against the Jazz. Just four players scored in double figures against Detroit and nobody had more than Jarace Walker’s 13 points. On Tuesday, Quenton Jackson had 13 points by halftime and the Pacers put seven players in double figures. The ball movement was sharp, the Pacers made shots and generally played with dramatically better confidence than they did the last time this group had to operate without their top players.

As much better as they were offensively, however, they couldn’t slow down the Jazz defensively, especially in the second half. The game was tied at 56 at halftime, but the Jazz scored 40 points in the third on 15 of 20 shooting including 5 of 7 from 3-point range for an absurd 1.63 points per possession. They scored another 35 in the fourth to finish with 75 points on 28 of 42 shooting (66.7%) in the second half.

Kam Jones starts and shows progress on both ends

At the time of that Pistons game, rookie guard Kam Jones was still very much getting his sea legs after missing most of the early part of the season, including training camp, with a stress reaction in his back. He played 28:48 in that first game but was 1 of 10 from the floor for two points and three assists.

On Tuesday, Rick Carlisle gave Jones his first NBA start after he put together a string of strong performances on assignment with the Noblesville Boom in the G League. He hit a 3-pointer early to get confidence and ended up with by far the most productive game in his career, though he did show clear signs that he hadn’t seen this kind of action before.

Jones scored 12 points on 4 of 9 shooting including 2 of 4 from 3-point range. He also dished out eight assists against one turnover and grabbed six rebounds. He was, however, -17 in 35 minutes and 52 seconds on the floor.

Quenton Jackson scores 24 points in 17 minutes

Whenever the Pacers are short-handed and they need someone to play far above their station, Quenton Jackson is usually the man who steps up. That was the case again on Tuesday, as the two-way contract guard was nearly unstoppable when he was on the floor.

Jackson scored 24 points on 9 of 10 shooting, making 2 of 3 3-pointers in just 17:18 on the floor. He also finished with three assists and three steals. His plus-minus figure was by far the best on the team as he posted a +15. Nobody else was better than +5.