Pascal Siakam’s Excellence Continues in Pacers 133-116 Win Over Clippers

1. First Quarter

Last night, the Indiana Pacers had one of their worst defensive efforts of the season. The game started tonight with the Pacers forcing a shot clock violation with three different deflections. They would score on their first possession on a Myles Turner hook shot. With Ben Sheppard starting for the injured Aaron Nesmith, there was a size advantage for Paul George. He took advantage of the Pacers rookie by scoring on three straight possessions for the Clippers. LA went ahead by three and then Tyrese Haliburton made his first of two triples in the quarter. Indiana briefly had the lead with Turner making a three and then later with a free throw. LA was down 16-15 with 5:25 remaining and then went on a 10-1 run to go ahead 25-17. Indiana couldn’t dramatically cut into the LA lead the final 3:42. After one, the Clippers led 34-29. Kawhi Leonard led all scorers with 9 points followed by Turner with 8 points.

2. Second Quarter

Indiana’s defense was better in the second quarter, and it led to the explosive offense that the Pacers had to start the season. It took the Pacers two minutes to tie the game up with Jarace Walker’s fingerprints all over the start of the quarter. He hit a three, set up Pascal Siakam for a layup, and then beat the Clippers back and got a dunk to tie the game at 40. Eventually, George would put the Clippers back up five points with a three-pointer. Indiana would later come back and tie it at 49. After a Leonard layup, the Pacers were able to take a four-point lead after a Haliburton three with 3:08 left in the half. The Clippers responded with five points to take a 60-59 advantage. Indiana would possess the lead at halftime when Haliburton made his fifth three of the half, making it 65-62. Haliburton led all scorers with 15 points followed by George and Leonard with 13 points.

3. Third Quarter

After a lackluster third quarter last game, the Indiana Pacers started the second half with a haymaker. Walker started the second half in place of Sheppard and had a huge impact. He gave the Pacers their first double digit lead with a three. LA slowly chipped away at Indiana’s lead and cut it to five after a Russell Westbrook layup with 6:50 left in the third. The two teams exchanged baskets for a few minutes until the Clippers made it 86-83 with a Leonard layup. With 2:53 left, Indiana was up 87-84 and closed out the quarter by outscoring LA 10-5 to lead 97-89 after three quarters of play. Turner led the Pacers in the quarter with 11 points, but it was Leonard pacing all scorers with 24 points. Indiana’s leading scorer was Turner with 22 points.

4. Fourth Quarter

Through the first three quarters, Siakam was relatively quiet. He hadn’t taken over the game and that’s because he was saving it for the final twelve minutes. Siakam opened the fourth quarter with six of the team’s first ten points. Indiana opened the final quarter with a 18-6 burst to take its first twenty-point lead. Sheppard’s only three-pointer in the game gave the Pacers a 115-95 lead with 8:05 left in the game. After the Clippers timeout, Siakam would give the team its largest lead with his only triple in the contest with 6:18 left, making it 122-99. From that point on, the Pacers prevented the Clippers big three and Norman Powell from making a comeback. The closest LA got was when George converted a three with 2:54 left in the game that made it 127-112. Indiana closed the game out the rest of the way and won 133-116.

5. Top Performers

Pascal Siakam (31p, 4r), Myles Turner (24p, 7r), Tyrese Haliburton (21p, 9a, 6 threes), T.J. McConnell (15p, 6a), and Jarace Walker (8p, 7a, 4r). For LA, Paul George (26p), Kawhi Leonard (26p, 4r, 3a), Normal Powell (22p), Russell Westbrook (14p, 7a, 4r), James Harden (11p, 7a), and Ivica Zubac (9p, 11r). For tonight’s full box score, click here.

6. Notes

• Indiana scored 130+ points in back-to-back games for the first time since 1/25/24 vs Philadelphia & 1/26/24 vs Phoenix
  • Coincidentally, last time the Pacers won on the second night of a back-to-back
    • Devin Booker scored 62 points in that win vs Phoenix
• Indiana finishes the year 3-10 on the second night of back-to-backs
  • Tonight’s win snapped the three-game losing streak
• Indiana’s 3-point field goal percentage of 60.7% is the second best in a game this season
  • If Doug McDermott did not take, or made, the final three point attempt, it would have been a season high
• LA is now 1-9 against teams above .500 since the All-Star break
• Pascal Siakam now had 30+ points in back-to-back games
  • Only second time this season he’s done that – first as an Indiana Pacer
  • Has now scored 20+ points in four straight games
• Tyrese Haliburton recorded his 30th game with 20+ points
  • Haliburton’s 6 threes are the most since returning from his hamstring injury
    • Most in a game since making six at Chicago on 12/28/23
  • Myles Turneer with 20+ points for the 26th time this season
  • Jarace Walker’s 29 minutes are a season/career high
    • 7 assists are a season/career high as well
    • First time seeing major minutes since 23 against Chicago on 3/13/24 (last back-to-back)
  • T.J. McConnell has scored 10+ points in six straight games
    • Averaging 13.1 ppg, 4.5 assists, and 2.8 rebounds per game last 10 games
      • 10 games following Bennedict Mathurin’s shoulder injury against the Dallas Mavericks
    • Indiana sits 6th in the Eastern Conference Standings
      • Trail New York Knicks by 3 games for 4th
      • Trail Orlando Magic by 2 games for 5th
      • Have 1 game lead over Miami Heat
      • Have 1.5 game lead over Philadelphia 76ers

7. Next Up

The fifth and final game of the road trip is on Wednesday night against the Chicago Bulls. The Kroger Pregame Show with Pat Boylan will start at 7:30pm. Mark Boyle and Eddie Gill will have the play-by-play starting at 8pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan.