On Pascal Siakam's debut for the Indiana Pacers (Patreon)

And whether he impressed with his first impression, fitting in by standing out 

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper 

One game is clearly not enough to accurately gauge to what degree Pascal Siakam will be a difference maker for the Pacers, especially when said game is coming on the second night of a road back-to-back without much opportunity for either side to get to know each other. Still, it's only natural to notice the areas of change that have already emerged, sizing up the impact of having a wing-sized wing on the roster who's capable of scoring 21 points on 64 percent shooting in his debut.  As such, while he and the team will certainly have plenty of opportunity to continue changing and building on this first impression, here's what stood out from the initial outing in the meantime. 

Something old, something borrowed, and something not-so-new is now something Blue 

Three years ago, when Rick Carlisle was still head coach of the Dallas Mavericks and long before Pascal Siakam was traded to the Pacers, Domantas Sabonis started catching the ball to get downhill with his strong hand out of early offense. At the time, as was the case with most of the playbook from that season, the simple but effective action was a favorite of then-Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, which his former assistant, Nate Bjorkgren, had attempted to hit copy-and-paste on with the Pacers. The only difference was, whereas Sabonis would attack like a bulldozer to his left, Siakam had more leeway with his handle to change directions, crossing over from right-to-left, while finding tiny advantages along the way of his path.

Nurse has since moved onto Philadelphia, where that same slot-to-slot flip has now resurfaced with Joel Embiid, but Siakam continued to carry the torch -- or rather, have the torch passed to him -- even through the coaching change.

Now, the same also applies to his change in teams. With little assembly required for a team that has only recently been assembled, Haliburton flipped the ball to Siakam multiple times, allowing the lanky forward to showcase his mid-range mastery, as he snatched back to create separation while having plenty of room to stretch his legs. 

Plus, even when Siakam didn't end up with the ball, he still relieved pressure from Haliburton with the threat of his momentum. Here, the star guard was able to keep on the flip, pulling up from deep with his defender, Matisse Thybulle, leaving space for Jabari Walker to cut between him and get to Siakam. 

In that way, the signs of how the two of them will be able to tip the scales for one another were apparent, meeting (quite literally) in the middle of the floor to connect on an action that already loosely connected Siakam to the Pacers, even before he played for them.

No matter how you slice it 

In what became a microcosm of their very literal shortcomings on the defensive end of the floor, the Pacers have been repeatedly targeted by slice screen actions this season. With a backscreen set for a player at the wing, the trouble for the Pacers tends to come in the form of  either giving up size in the post or being unable to protect against the lob (for largely the same small reason) while also staying glued to the three-point line.

Just look at this possession against Siakam's Raptors. When Bruce Brown doesn't get on the under side of the switch, no one even has a foot in the paint to help, let alone rotate to the rim. And, here's the thing: Even if Brown had executed the switch properly, how much of a chance would he have to withstand the physicality of Scottie Barnes? Meanwhile, Toronto's starting lineup at this point of the season wasn't exactly loaded with off-ball movers, capable of rising up and firing out of a hand-off; and yet, Myles Turner was straddling the three-point line against Jakob Poeltl as a non-shooting big at the same time as Obi Toppin is staring straight ahead, without any vision of what's developing behind him.

Needless to say, even with slice screens mainly being used in the NBA as the action to set up another action, this has been a recurring theme -- with the only exception being when they've helped more liberally from the weak-side, which they typically aren't wont to do. 

That's why this possession was so striking. Portland is running option screens for Jerami Grant, which means he can go to the post or cut to the top. Notably, with Siakam guarding Grant, the Pacers actually managed to guard against the backscreen option. 

Of course, that's what NBA teams are supposed to do, which demonstrates why slice screens are oftentimes used as the means to facilitating the next ends of compromising ball-screen or hand-off coverages with the big sagging off to protect. Still, Turner *actually* sagged off to protect, and Siakam *actually* stayed attached. That's progress, even if the bar for that progress is low. Along those same lines, Grant still had a big game, tallying 37 points for his second-highest scoring total of the season, which included some blowby drives against Siakam and a really poorly defended flex cut, but there also was some damage done by switching on screens that gave up mismatches against guards while also trying to chase over on 4-5 screening actions which the Pacers would normally switch. Indiana needed a big wing to guard big wings, so with time, they'll likely need to be a bit more attentive in maintaining those match-ups. After all, this right here, is what they've been missing, right?

To that point, they were missing it even when he was still on the floor. This is the same play, only with him defending in the weak-side corner.

In that regard, while he didn't always seem assured of when he was supposed to fully commit to helping (oh hey, he's already fitting right in!), it was evident that he's more capable of taking up space. If he stunts at the nail, he has more length to recover and contest above the break than what's normally the case for the Pacers -- at least when they're playing small and those closeouts appear twice as long. 

Remember, two months ago, Bennedict Mathurin got audibly chastised and pulled from the game when he didn't send a double-team for Tyrese Haliburton against Grant, who spent most of the fourth quarter walking the ball into the post. In this game, Grant also spent part of his time walking the ball into the post, but Siakam, to his credit, readily recognized the mismatch.

Moving forward, while there probably needs to be more of an emphasis on not giving up those types of mismatches, at least there's a viable option for matching size with size in areas -- like against slice screens -- in which the Pacers have been consistently vulnerable.  

The early bully gets the ball 

Methodical backdowns are typically thought of as actions to run at the end of the shot-clock, as they provide the advantage of getting the ball to an efficient late-clock scoring area while also being risky for defenses to double for fear of giving up an open three or cut to the rim. 

With more teams getting acquainted with trapping and hedging late pick-and-roll actions for Haliburton, that has the potential to come in handy for the Pacers as an alternative mode of offense -- especially since Haliburton has the potential to draw attention away from Siakam, just as Siakam also drew attention away from Haliburton with the aforementioned flip action.

For example, this isn't a double-team; it's an isolation. With Haliburton screening away and bringing his defender with him, Siakam only has to twirl past his own man to get to the rim.

And, here's the thing: All of that developed within the first seven seconds of the shot-clock. In that way, the early work that Siakam does in transition has the potential to also build out the existing strengths of the Pacers, in addition to providing them with a late-clock release valve that can be connected to secondary actions. As such, bully drives can also be a means of creating quality shots for others. Here, the closer he gets to the basket, the more the defense collapses, making it challenging to keep vision on both the ball and the relocation from Hield.

No one else on the roster has the ability to turn a perimeter drive into a post-up at that level, let alone that quickly. All of which is to say that, while there may end up being an adjustment period, especially given that neither Haliburton nor the bench exactly appeared like they were operating at full strength, Siakam looked as though the way in which he stands out, with his staccato yet languid play-style, might be exactly what leads him to accentuate the more lyrical quality of his teammates -- fitting in by distinguishing himself.