If you didn’t know any better on Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, you might have thought the Pacers were closing out a playoff series.
Bennedict Mathurin was screaming and flexing after big shots. Tyrese Haliburton was shouting and clapping after forcing a turnover. And the trio of Jalen Smith, Isaiah Jackson, and Goga Bitadze were doing their best impersonation of Rik Smits and the Davis brothers, swatting shots, throwing down dunks, and stirring things up.
Yes, it was only the third game of the season. But for a young and hungry Pacers team that hadn’t even held a lead in two losses to open the year, it meant a little more.
It all added up to a highlight-filled 124-115 victory for Indiana. They threw down six dunks and swatted 15 shots – their most blocks since 2013. They fed off of every big play, pounding their chests and sending the bench and 16,000 fans into hysterics on several occasions throughout the second half.
“It was fun,” Jackson said after the victory. “Just being out there with the guys, blocking shots, getting dunks. It was just turnt. You could feel the energy tonight. The crowd was in it, everybody was in it.”
At the start of the night, it seemed like Saturday’s game might follow the same old script. The Pacers fell behind from the opening tip and trailed 35-25 after the Pistons knocked down six 3-pointers in the opening frame.
Indiana finally took its first lead all season in the second quarter, when Mathurin’s 3-pointer at the 6:30 mark gave the Pacers a 42-41 advantage. It lasted all of 12 seconds, thanks to Isaiah Stewart’s triple on the other end.
They would surge back ahead for good less than two minutes into the second half, stringing together a series of highlights over the final 24-plus minutes that helped seal an emotional win.
It started late in the second quarter, when former Purdue star Jaden Ivey – playing in front of plenty of fans in his third career game – drove down the lane with an eye on throwing down the first poster dunk of his young career. But Smith had other ideas, materializing at the last minute to stuff the rookie and send him sprawling to the floor.
A quarter later, with Indiana nursing a five-point lead, Chris Duarte wasn’t about to face a similar fate. The second-year guard blew past Cory Joseph. Pistons rookie forward Jalen Duren was late rotating over and made a business decision to back out of a mid-air contest as Duarte threw down a vicious, right-handed slam.
One possession later, Mathurin drilled a three – one of five on the night – then pounded his chest as the crowd roared in approval.
Bitadze egged the crowd on in the closing minutes of the third quarter. After scrapping with Isaiah Livers in the post, Bitadze exchanged words with Saddiq Bey. The two had to be separated, with T.J. McConnell pulling Bitadze back near the Indiana bench. As the referees assessed a double technical foul, the Georgian motioned to the crowd, drawing a loud ovation.
He earned those cheers in the fourth, converting an and-one layup at 10:16 and then throwing down an unexpected one-hand alley oop from Mathurin a minute later.
“That’s what we always talk about, just go out there and fight,” Bitadze said. “Be the first ones who hit them and we set the tone of the game.”
Emotions were riding high in an Indiana-Detroit battle that perhaps marked the start of the next chapter of a classic Central Division rivalry. Both teams are young, loaded with recent lottery picks, and hoping they are at the start of building something special.
The Pacers have something special in Haliburton and Mathurin. The duo combined for 45 points in Wednesday’s opener, 53 on Friday, and 51 on Saturday. Haliburton was his usual steady self, tallying 24 points, 10 assists, and five steals, while Mathurin remained a tour de force, tallying 27 points and seven rebounds, going 5-for-8 from 3-point range.
Mathurin’s 72 points over his first three games are the most ever by a Pacers rookie over their first three games and the most by any NBA rookie since 1995.
When asked afterwards about facing off again Ivey, who Detroit took with the fifth overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft – one spot before Indiana drafted Mathurin – the 20-year-old Montreal native offered a glimpse of the confidence that fuels him on the court.
“I know exactly who was drafted before me,” Mathurin said. “It’s nothing personal, but I’m going to make sure every time I step on the court they’re going to know who I am.”
But the Pacers will need production from more than just Haliburton and Mathurin to win games. They finally got some on Saturday, with their three young bigs leading the way.
Indiana’s interior play had been exposed through the first two games with starting center Myles Turner sidelined with a sprained left ankle. Washington and San Antonio attacked the Pacers in the paint and met little resistance.
But on Saturday, the Pacers came out with a different fire.
After Turner’s injury, Smith had shifted from power forward, where he had practiced all training camp, to center. He struggled, particularly on Friday, when he managed just two points in seven minutes, was benched to start the second half, and then had his night end early after taking a shot to the face.
On Saturday, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle moved him back to the four. Carlisle said multiple team members spoke with Smith on Saturday afternoon and it must have worked. The third-year big man flourished, matching his career highs with 19 points and 15 rebounds and also blocking three shots.
“He stepped on the floor with a different posture and disposition at the very beginning of the game,” Carlisle said. “It may have taken him getting hit in the face last game. Because this game will hit you in the face if you’re not ready to play. He was ready to play tonight and he was brilliant.”
Meanwhile, Jackson slid into the starting lineup at center and matched his career high with five blocks. He led the way in Indiana’s impressive shot-swatting display. After amassing just 11 total blocks over the first two games, the Pacers had 11 in the first half on Saturday and 15 on the night, tied for the sixth-most in franchise history.
And then there was Bitadze, who was a monster off the bench, tallying 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, a career-best 15 rebounds, and four assists.
“His emotion really got the crowd into it and kept them into it,” Carlisle said. “That was really great to see. He was a big presence. He was a presence at the rim, he was a presence blocking shots. He’s one of our best movement, flow players, great feel for the game. And he’s a guy that everybody in our locker room pulls for all the time.”
There were other contributors, too.
Third-year forward Aaron Nesmith – who moved into the starting lineup for the first time – blocked three shots himself and hit two big shots in the fourth quarter, including a game-sealing three in the final minutes.
Rookie Andrew Nembhard put together another strong showing off the bench, tallying eight points and three assists in nine minutes.
And while Duarte continued an early-season shooting slump, going 3-for-14 from the field, he still managed nine points and the early frontrunner for dunk of the year.
It may not have been a playoff game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Saturday, but the more Indiana’s young talent plays like they did against Detroit, the sooner that dream can become a reality.