Isaiah Jackson is providing a spark for the Pacers (Patreon)

Both with his instant production as well as for the imagination 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

With the two fastest pace teams in the NBA going up against each other, there were bound to be some frenetic sequences -- especially when the Pacers, who haven't played at home in 11 days, allow the highest percentage of opponent shots at the rim while also ranking dead-last in points allowed per 100 transition plays. Over a span of 33 seconds, Kyle Kuzma scored in the paint on a blowby drive. Then, Isaiah Jackson answered with a blowby drive of his own, only to be followed by Bilal Coulibaly leaking out for a dunk at the rim.

And yet, in a game that saw the Wizards score 26 fast break points, marking the second-most the Pacers have surrendered this season, the middle portion of that sentence deserves a bit more emphasis than the camera work or the defense would allow: 

(ahem)

"Isaiah Jackson answered with a blowby drive of his own." 

It wasn't an entirely pristine performance from Jackson. He racked up fouls, as he's prone to do, and it seems somewhat telling that, after getting whistled for holding on the perimeter against Danilo Gallinari, the Pacers intentionally swapped Jackson onto Coulibaly to guard weak-side corner, even at the risk of defending the pick-and-roll with three guards. 

Turns out, the three guards switched effectively enough to neutralize Washington's stack action, and no points ended up being scored, but Jackson missed the opportunity to scram Tyrese Haliburton out of the mismatch under the basket. He meanders like that, unsure of where he's supposed to be or what exactly he should be doing, at both ends of the floor at times. He was one of few players who performed at or above their standard in the Finals of the In-Season Tournament; however, when Haliburton was getting confronted by two defenders on the ball, Jackson could've countered by setting a top-pin on Anthony Davis for Buddy Hield to shoot from the top of the key.

Instead, he just kind of stood there until Hield attacked head-on against Davis, advancing the ball to get it back before throwing up an errant lob. Granted, those shots weren't exactly falling for the Pacers against the Lakers, seeing as how they finished just 10-of-41 from deep, but that's still an example of where the team needs Jackson to be slightly more in tune with his place on the court in relation to his teammates. That said, he flashed some signs of improvement in that regard as the game went on -- just as he also has on the whole since rejoining the rotation with Jalen Smith out due to injury. Here, for example, he could be heard shouting instructions for Haliburton to "get out" while executing the off-ball switch, so as to avoid giving up the size advantage around the basket.

Of course, a few minutes later, he anchored himself to the corner yet again, perhaps because Brown was the player switched onto the big instead of Haliburton. To that point, the Pacers have a somewhat strange relationship with off-ball scram switching and tag switching, as far as when and for whom they're willing to make the swap, with the obvious downside being that, even if Brown is capable of putting up more of a fight in the post, Jackson still isn't in position to protect the rim. 

Generally speaking, that's the dichotomy the Pacers typically face with him at the five. If he isn't involved directly in the action, he's less likely to foul in bulk, but if he isn't involved directly in the action, he also (very obviously) isn't involved directly in the action. Still, they've found some success in spots with his ground coverage as a change-up. Plus, he finished this particular game with 20 points and 13 rebounds in less than 20 minutes played, and when he "answered with a blowby drive of his own" he did something he's never done before. With T.J. McConnell pushing the ball ahead following the make from Kuzma, Jackson put the ball on the floor as the trailer from outside the 3-point line and crouched lower than his defender to get to the other side of the rim. 

When he plays off the bounce, which doesn't happen often, he usually does so driving to his off-hand. That much isn't necessarily new, what was a departure from the norm, though, is that this was the first time that he has ever attacked from that distance out of a hand-off from McConnell. Since Jackson entered the league, the Pacers have been outscored by 6.33 points per 100 possessions in the 668 minutes that those two have shared the floor together. Some of that can probably be attributed to pivoting to development mode and the awkwardness that can ensue from makeshift lineups, but there might be something to be said for adapting that hand-off, developed out of random, as a means for exploiting an under. 

For the most part, defenses typically go under against McConnell because of his reluctance to shoot behind the screen from deep. With no advantage created on the first screen, a natural tendency for the Pacers, at least when he can't beat his man to his spot, is to play through the re-screen to get the ball screen lower or force the defender to go over. If the defense is determined to go under, however, as Coby White was last season, perhaps some real consideration could be given to inverting the action.

Think of it this way: Rather than setting the re-screen, McConnell would dribble off the initial pick and then turn his back to seal off White, just like he did in transition against the Wizards, with Jackson receiving the hand-off to attack the opposing big with an advantage.

To be fair, Jackson also hit a jump-shot at the elbow out of the pick-and-roll with Ben Sheppard as the ball-handler, but that isn't a regular feature of his game and defenses don't exactly react to him as a shooter. By comparison, he has a very quick, long first step for his position that could potentially allow him to add a different element from what Jalen Smith provides while also maintaining an unpredictable approach for when teams try to stall out the offense by going under.   

Like some of his rotations when defending away from the ball, it's possible that some of the effectiveness might come and go from game-to-game and maybe even within the same game, but on the eleventh day of a road trip that went sideways fast, Jackson's performance at least provided a spark -- both with his production as well as for the imagination in picturing what fresh wrinkles could be added to future games as a direct result of his game.