What matters from the Pacers' preseason debut (Patreon)

On the overarching trends and standout takeaways, presented as winners and losers

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Watching preseason basketball can be like looking in a funhouse mirror, with the reflection that meets the eye being a distorted version of reality -- only the reality, insomuch as you can't discern the future in the same way that you are likely already intensely familiar with the true nature of your own appearance -- is unknown.

Just think about what happened at the end of the first quarter of Sunday's 127-122 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. With 14 seconds remaining on the shot-clock, Jordan Nwora lost his filter a bit against a switch, calling his own number for a step-back three. A few beats later, after T.J. McConnell tracked down the rebound and eventually reset the offense, Isaiah Jackson caught the ball on the roll and twirled away from the defense into a blocked layup over his right shoulder with his chest parallel to the sideline. Santi Aldama, meanwhile, answered the miss with a miss of his own for the Grizzlies, streaking down the lane into traffic with 3.3 seconds to play instead of holding for the final shot. All of that happened in the span of 25.6 seconds, and it doesn't hold a candle to the fact that a lineup without a point guard, featuring Ben Sheppard, Jarace Walker, Kendall Brown, Jalen Smith, and Oscar Tschiebwe forced overtime, only to be outdone by Jake Laravia and Kenneth Lofton Jr. making every shot in sight. That's preseason basketball, which makes it difficult, like the funhouse mirror, to distinguish the wackiness, born of jelling with new teammates and learning new schemes all while playing deep rotations, from what, if anything, is actually meaningful.

Here's an attempt to make sense of the madness, adjusting the magnification for areas of progress and zooming out for minor causes of concern, organized by winners and losers.

Winner: Bennedict Mathurin standing out by fitting in

For the most part, Bennedict Mathurin sees obstacles as opportunities, but the opportunities are usually for him -- not for his teammates. On Sunday, he altered that perspective, at least by comparison to Summer League. Think back to this possession from July, wherein he was predetermined in his determination, forcing up a shot at the rim.

As a rookie, Mathurin attacked left on 58 percent of his drives that ended in usage. He isn't robotic, and he has counters, but his go-to move as a scorer is to turn his weak-hand into a strength, jab-stepping to his right and driving left. Likewise, he also loves to rip the ball baseline and drive to his left. And yet, he rarely passes, let alone … with his left. In fact, as was previously laid out, there were 142 players who averaged at least five drives per game last season. Among them, Mathurin ranked 139 in pass percentage (18.1 percent), with only Joel Embiid (14.2 percent), Kelly Oubre Jr. (12.7 percent), and Jaren Jackson Jr. (9.8 percent) holding onto the ball more often. In total, he attempted 214 passes that could be categorized as kick-outs or skip passes. Of those, only 72 were thrown to the right side of the floor and none (yes, zero) were delivered with his left hand.

Granted, he didn't make this pass with his left hand either, but he made the pass on the move and located the kick-out avenue instead of trying to beat the help.

Twisting on his axis to throw a push pass with his right isn't ideal as far as pass accuracy, and there was another instance where he got stopped and had to put both of his hands on the ball in a way that will give the defense time to read the pass, but he was attempting to make the right play within the offense as opposed to existing separately from the offense.

Even when he very notably passed up an open shot, as he so often does with how wired he is to catch-and-drive, he also very notable passed out of the shot to get a shot for a teammate. He didn't drive into a contested shot for himself.

For now, that's an important distinction.

Loser: Defending ball-screens 2v2 (particularly with Mathurin on-ball)

According to Second Spectrum, Myles Turner defended at the level of the screen on only 12.4 percent of his ball-screen coverages as the screener defender last season. Moreover, when he played up to a touch, which was usually only against top-tier pull-up threats or playmakers, the Pacers were typically aggressive in providing early weak-side help against the roller. See: Andrew Nembhard, who is doing the 2.9-dance, making ample use of the number of seconds he can stand in the lane as a tagger without being an arm's length away from an offensive player.

Of course, this didn't happen as much last season, because when the Pacers pivoted to playing four-guard lineups and were facing a team with a lob threat, Turner was typically assigned to the lower usage wing so they could keep him low and out of ball-screen actions. On Sunday, in what was a return to the norm, he was matched up with the five.

The only difference was, there very deliberately was no help. When he was up to a touch, almost to the point of nudging the screener to set the screen, everyone else stayed home. With that type of coverage, if the on-ball defender gets beat, that player has to run the seam in front of the screener. Otherwise, the big is left to defend 2-on-1. All too often, as was also the case during Summer League, Mathurin chased over and either gave up the chase or never veered into the screener. It happened during the minutes he played with Turner, and it also happened during the minutes he played with Jalen Smith.

If this is going to be the scheme, which seems very sink-or-swim given the overall quality of their defense at the point of attack (my apologies to Aaron Nesmith's dogged defense at the end of the third quarter), then Mathurin is going to have to improve at impacting passes to the roll-man. Of course, it's possible they might be open to trying other types of coverages. During the minutes when Jarace Walker was defending at the five, which (yes) occurred while Isaiah Jackson was also on the floor, the bench could be heard yelling "15" as the call for the center to switch out to the ball. Even then, though, they still didn't shrink the floor to protect Isaiah Wong against the mismatch. Again, everyone stayed home.

Whatever the case, trying to defend screens without involving an extra defender wasn't the only reason why the Pacers gave up 78 points in the paint (they got bumped and bruised a lot, too!), but it certainly was among the many contributors.

Winner: Bruce Brown, covering up mistakes

Without Tyrese Haliburton or Andrew Nembhard to run offense, Brown had to take on some responsibility as the primary ball-handler when T.J. McConnell went to the bench. From the standpoint of spacing, Nesmith had to cup the ball like a football in order to squeeze through the tackles for the Grizzlies. If Haliburton is the passer, the defense probably isn't going to be as willing to stunt toward Nesmith as the cutter once the pass occurs.

As such, what looks like trouble, is probably only cause for minor concern -- or, maybe, none at all. After all, Nesmith's handle isn't made for tight spaces, but how often are he or Brown actually going to be in those positions when Haliburton is in the lineup? This is funhouse mirror manipulation, probably.

In that regard, once he's starting next to Haliburton and Mathurin, it's a lot more likely that he will need to do stuff like this, appearing as if from nowhere to cover up mistakes and create chaos at the other end of the floor.

On the night, Mathurin didn't just have trouble on defense with late-switching. He ran into contact on off-ball screens. He confused what the coverage was supposed to be on ghost screens, and his defender cut behind him when he turned his head, requiring Bruce Brown to be a secondary rim protector. That said, after falling asleep at the wheel, he immediately  went full-throttle, throwing a one-handed hit-ahead pass to Obi Toppin in transition. It got intercepted and never had that much velocity to begin with, but as was the overall trend for the game, he tried something and the something, although it didn't end in points, was done with the intention of resulting in a shot for someone other than himself.

Loser: Giving up ground

G.G. Jackson dislodged Jarace Walker, Kendall Brown got tossed aside by Kenneth Lofton Jr., Isaiah Jackson bounced off David Roddy, and Jaren Jackson Jr. backed down Obi Toppin. All of those possessions have something in common: physicality perpetrated against a forward or center. Last season, the Pacers ranked seventh in how many defensive possessions they logged sending hard doubles at post-ups that ended in shot attempts, turnovers, or free throws. When they played the Raptors, for example, they smashed down on bully drives in an effort to spray the ball out to the perimeter, daring Toronto to beat them in a shoot=out while also protecting the mismatch. On the whole, it was an effective strategy against that particular opponent, especially after halftime of the first game, when the Raptors shot 3-of-23 from deep. Of course, there were also games against other teams where they gave up size and put themselves into rotation far too often. Remember, there's a reason why they aren't starting four guards anymore -- at least not as of now.

Based on their approach to the game against Memphis, it seems like they're prepared to leave the past in the past. Even as Kenneth Lofton Jr. racked up 11 points during the fourth quarter and overtime, banging in shots from here, there, and everywhere, the bench didn't signal to get the ball out of his hands or even to feign help. Instead, just as was the case with the 2v2 pick-and-roll coverage, everyone else stayed home. Again, this seems very sink-of-swim. Forget Lofton's scoring binge. Look at this possession from the first half.

Jaren Jackson Jr. takes four dribbles and no one even tries to get him off balance, whether actually digging at the ball or even pretending like they might.

Maybe, this is just what they are going to be willing to give up? Still, it's telling that they are giving it up, with Toppin at a definite disadvantage, even after adding more size.

Winner: The Rookies

Oh hey, here's someone who didn't give up ground after taking a hit: Ben Sheppard. On a single possession, he stopped the ball, switched onto Xavier Tillman, switched again onto Jake Laravia and then walled up with a two-hand, controlled contest in the paint despite absorbing a forearm to the chest. A stop in the paint? What a novelty!

In the second half, Sheppard and Walker combined for seven threes on 19 tries, with the majority coming as standstill spot-up attempts. That's what is expected from Sheppard in the long-term and hoped for from Walker, at least on a good night, but as the stop from Sheppard goes to show, they also both had bright spots that were unrelated to hot early shooting. Walker doesn't always make the right decision, but he makes quick decisions. He presupposes a cutter will be open because he anticipates the cut ahead of the cutter recognizing it. As a result, sometimes he ends up finding out that a defender has closed the passing lane before the cutter can meet the pass. In that way, he's proactive, almost to a fault. But he also keeps advantages alive, completing the exact type of pass from the corner with his left hand that Mathurin has yet to make at any point since being drafted.

Of course, Walker isn't rejecting a screen into a baseline drive; he's attacking a closeout during a game in which he actually saw closeouts. That might change, depending upon his shot. Still, just as Mathurin stood out for fitting in, Walker and Sheppard stood out because they didn't stand out for the wrong reasons, instead, making it seem as though they could've played in the first half -- at least in the distorted reflection that is the funhouse mirror of preseason.