'We dictated what we wanted to dictate': Surprising Pacers play games on their own terms

INDIANAPOLIS — Rick Carlisle went into halftime Saturday night feeling distraught.

The Toronto Raptors had an obvious game plan and even more obvious reasons to use it. It was their fifth game in seven nights and they were playing without stars Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet as well as rising star Precious Achiuwa due to injuries and illness. The last thing they wanted was to allow the Pacers to turn Saturday's game into a track meet. And in the first half, they did a pretty good job of preventing that from happening.

"They were running dribble weaves chewing the clock up and dropping it into taller guys for isos and just uglying up the game," Carlisle said. "Shortening the game. And we were just letting them do it."

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But then they went back into the locker room. Carlisle told them what was going on and why. And the Pacers flipped a switch and turned the entire game around.

They followed a 52-point first half with a 66-point second half and turned a 13-point halftime advantage into a 14-point win. They shot better than 60% from the field after the break and 50% from beyond the arc and beat an innovative coach in Nick Nurse and established franchise in the Raptors by playing the game entirely on their terms.

"We dictated what we wanted to dictate," wing Aaron Nesmith said. "We played the game that we wanted to play."

It's unfair and unwise to jump to too many conclusions about the Pacers through just 12 games, but at 6-6 they have already put some distance between themselves and other teams who, at the beginning of the season, seemed to be in a similar stage of rebuilding. They have established an uptempo, wildly entertaining style of play that keeps players alert and engaged, and does the same for a fanbase that may have expected this season to be a wash.

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Saturday night was just the latest piece of evidence that the Pacers can impose that style and dictate the terms of engagement, even on teams that have no interest in getting up and down the floor that fast. That in turn suggests that whatever the ceiling on this group is, they might already be far too good to tank for the purposes of acquiring the coveted No. 1 draft pick.

Their turnaround Saturday night speaks to a maturity that belies the fact that they are one of the 10 youngest teams in the NBA, averaging just over 25 years of age before the season began. Three of their five starters are 22 and just one of their top 10 scorers is older than 26, but when their 63-year-old coach with an NBA title and 14 playoff appearances to his name speaks, they listen and apply what he says.

"The great part about Rick as a coach and this organization is we have guys that are honest with each other," point guard Tyrese Haliburton said, "and we have a lot of respect for each other to where we can say the truth and say things that are really going on out there and kind of just get over that and understand that it's not attacking anybody or coming after anybody. It's just challenging you as a basketball player and Rick does a good job of that."

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It also helps that they're so good at their style of play that it's simply hard to stop them from doing what they want to do.

Heading into Monday evening's games, the Pacers ranked second in the NBA in scoring at 117.3 points, behind only the defending Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics with 119.5 per game. None of their first 12 opponents have held them under 100 points. Just one of the 12 held them under 105 and they've scored at least 115 seven times. They average 102.7 possessions per game, second only to the defending champion Golden State Warriors at 103.0. They're also second in the league in fast-break points with 18.1 per game and second in made 3-pointers per game at 15.5.

Their blinding speed marks a notable change from the 2021-22 season when they averaged 111.5 points (14th in the NBA) on 98.6 possessions per game (18th) but there's enough film on the Pacers now that teams know it's coming. Stopping it, however, is an entirely different issue.

"We know that you have to strap on your seatbelts," Denver Nuggets coach Mike Malone said last week before escaping Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a 122-119 win. "They want to get up and down all night."

They can and do primarily because they have multiple point guards who can push the pace and they frequently have at least two of them on the floor at the same time. Though Carlisle had reason to promote Bennedict Mathurin, one of the top scoring rookies in the league, into the starting lineup when guard Chris Duarte went down with an ankle injury last week, he instead moved up fellow rookie and former Gonzaga point guard Andrew Nembhard into the starting lineup to give the Pacers two ball-handlers in the starting lineup with Tyrese Haliburton. With T.J. McConnell also coming off the bench, the Pacers rarely put a lineup on the floor without two guards who can run and create for teammates.

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"We're in shape and our point guards just grab the ball and go," Nesmith said. "As soon as they get the ball from the boards, they push the tempo and we have to run with them."

All three of them can run, but Haliburton is particularly swift and particularly skilled at running egalitarian fast breaks that keep everyone involved and engaged. He's scoring plenty himself, leading the Pacers with a career-high 20.5 points per game, but he's also leading the NBA with 10.3 assists after dishing out 15 Saturday against the Raptors.

And he wants to run. Always.

"We're going to do that regardless," Haliburton said. "If guys want to pick us up full court, they can do that all they want. We have multiple ball-handlers so if you pick up full we're going to get out in transition and play that way. Other guys are going to bring it up. But you guys see. If there's a dead ball and the ball rolls into the crowd, I'm sprinting to get the ball so we can get the ball back in play. I'm 22. I got fresh legs. I just want to run. That's just part of who I've always been as a basketball player."

Haliburton's speed and style obviously works wonders for Mathurin, who is averaging 19.9 points per game and Buddy Hield, who with 18.8 points and 4.1 3-pointers per game is having one of the best starts of his seven-year career. But the tempo is also doing wonders for the bigs, especially center Myles Turner. His 17.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per game would be career highs by far if carried over the course of the season, and he posted three straight double-doubles including a 37-point, 12-rebound effort against the New Orleans Pelicans last week.

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"Tyrese is a big part of it, man," Turner said. "He sees everything. ... I know I'm not running for no reason. I know I'm not getting to a spot for no reason. I know if I make the right play, he's going to make the right play. It's that chemistry and synergy that we're building. We didn't have a chance to play together last year. This is the point and time for us to keep doing that. And even if it's not me, if I make the right run, someone else on the court is going to get it because someone else is going to tag and Tyrese is going to make the right read."

The Pacers don't win every time they run. They're allowing 117.2 points per game, which is the fifth highest figure in the league and they can't stop opponents that want run on them any more than their opponents can slow them down. But their ability to match teams bucket-for-bucket still keeps them in games most nights against teams with more talent on paper. They've claimed wins in five of their last seven games with victories over the Raptors, Pelicans, Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat and Washington Wizards and it's not impossible to imagine all of those squads in the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the race for the bottom of the NBA and the draft lottery ping-pong balls that might deliver seemingly certain No. 1 pick Victor Wembanyama continues. The Pacers are clearly behind in that regard. If the season ended today, Indiana would take the eighth playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons and Houston Rockets have 11 losses each. The Pacers have the opportunity to hand the Hornets and Rockets more when they play at Charlotte on Wednesday and at Houston on Friday in their upcoming roadtrip.

As it stands, it's hard to imagine the Pacers becoming much of a part of the Wembanyama sweepstakes. There is certainly a reason to consider the idea, as trade pieces Turner and Hield seem much more likely than they were before the season to command a heavy ransom from a contender before the Feb. 9 trade deadline.

The Pacers themselves don't have any control over that, only over the games they play. They've proven already they can play those games on their terms.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Pacers NBA basketball pushing tempo in surprising 6-6 start