They gave up 71 points in the first half. On their home court. To a team with a losing record. When they should have been rejuvenated following the week-long All-Star break.
So, what did Nate McMillan have to say about that?
"What do you think?" Darren Collison said, laughing.
"Fiery," Wesley Matthews Jr. said. "Coach got after us. Film looked terrible. We looked terrible out there."
"We got our ass yelled at," Thaddeus Young said, laughing.
The Pacers could afford to look back with some amusement at their coach's halftime tirade. They recovered with an energetic, dominant, and coach-pleasing second half that carried them from a 20-point deficit in the final two minutes of the first half to a 126-111 victory that pushed their record to 39-20.
They rushed off after the game to catch the flight to Washington D.C. for Saturday's game against Washington, but had time enough to reflect on an outcome that avoided the kind of loss they can rarely afford in their quest to maintain one of the top four spots in the Eastern Conference.
What they realized, what was obvious to everyone inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse, was that they extended their generous All-Star too long. Twenty-four minutes on the game clock too long, to be exact. New Orleans entered the game as the fourth-highest scoring team in the NBA and shot well in the first half, but the Pacers didn't offer much resistance. The Pelicans' 19 fastbreak points in the first half were proof of that.
Hence, Coach McMillan's halftime oration.
What did he say?
"Just can't say all the things that were said," he said afterward.
Whatever was said, though, wasn't difficult to hear.
"Is Nate a good screamer?" Young was asked.
"He was today," Young said, smiling.
"Hey, Reke, he scare you a little bit?" Young said, turning to Tyreke Evans.
"No, Evans said. "I played for Coach Cal, bro."
"Yeah, he screamed us down a little bit," Young continued. "Basically told us to get our ---- together. It happens that way sometimes, post All-Star break. You come out a little dry."
The Pacers responded by flooding New Orleans (26-34) at both ends of the court to outscore them by 28 points in the second half. It was the usual group effort. Bojan Bogdanovic scored 20 points. Domantas Sabonis had 18 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. Collison had 12 assists and one meaningless turnover that came with 69 seconds left. Kyle O'Quinn contributed eight points and 10 rebounds in a starting role in place of Myles Turner, who sat out with sore hip.
The X-factors and attention-getters, though, were Wesley Matthews and Evans.
Matthews still hasn't been found time to find a place to live in Indianapolis, and won't need to for another week due to the upcoming three-game road trip. But he looked settled within the Pacers' framework in this game. He scored 24 points, hitting 6-of-11 3-point shots, and helped limit Pelicans' star Jrue Holiday to 14 points, seven below his average.
Matthews hit a 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer after inbounding the ball on the baseline to Sabonis, then taking a return pass and scoring from in front of the Pacers' bench. That shot capped a 7-0 run that shrunk the Pelican's 20-point lead to 13, perhaps taking a few decibels out of McMillan's halftime message.
Matthews came back to hit four 3-pointers within the first five minutes of the Pacers' 39-point third quarter. He added three more points on the possession following the final volley of that barrage by drawing a foul and hitting all three free throws to give the Pacers their first lead of the game, 80-79.
Matthews' comfort level was obvious. He had played two games in New York following his trade from Dallas, and then rushed into two games with the Pacers before the break. This was the first game in a few weeks in which he felt like an insider — a process that began during the break.
"I mentally cleared out everything that happened in that 2 1/2 week span and tried to get my body right for this last stretch," he said.
Photo Credit: Walt Thomas
Matthews took an errant elbow in the nose from a teammate — "friendly fire," he called it — and had to retreat to the locker room to stop the bleeding with 5:41 left in the third quarter. Hot as he was, though, he wasn't missed. After New Orleans regained a seven-point lead, Evans took over the offense by hitting a 22-foot step-back jumper and a 3-point step-back jumper on the final two possessions of the period to give the Pacers a three-point lead heading into the fourth.
He opened that quarter with an assist to Sabonis for a dunk, a three-point play of his own off an aggressive transition layup that drew a foul, an assist to Bogdanovic for a 3-pointer on the left wing in transition and a 3-pointer of his own.
Evans finished with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 19 minutes. It's no coincidence that his performance came after receiving another platelet-rich plasma injection in his right knee over the All-Star break. He flew to New York when the break began to get the shot, then spent the rest of his time off in Los Angeles with his daughter.
"It definitely helped," he said.
Evans also had received a plasma injection on Dec. 20. He followed that one with an outstanding game in Atlanta in which he hit 7-of-9 shots on his way to 19 points. He believes he'll be able to finish the season without another shot, but leaves open the option of getting another one before the playoffs.
Fact is, he's only participated in the playoffs once, in 2015 for New Orleans, and that was for just four games in a first-round sweep. It's a virtual certainty he'll be in the playoffs this season. And he'll be important. Less than a month ago, after Victor Oladipo's season-ending injury and Evans' lesser injury, McMillan had to start Edmond Sumner at shooting guard with rookie Aaron Holiday backing up. Now he has two veterans filling the gap left by the team's departed All-Star who just combined for 41 points on 13-of-23 shooting with eight 3-pointers and are settling into their roles.
That could be something to shout about.
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Mark Montieth's book on the formation and groundbreaking seasons of the Pacers, "Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis," is available in bookstores throughout Indiana and on Amazon.com.
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