The Indiana Pacers’ seven-game western road trip is about to end. It all comes to a conclusion against the Minnesota Timberwolves Wednesday evening. After that game, the Pacers return home for a four-game homestand. This road trip has shown some things to the fans and the team.
One of the biggest things the team has learned is that second-round pick Andrew Nembhard looks like a steal of a draft pick. He’s hit a game-winning shot over Lebron James at the Staples Center. Then he played 41 minutes against Golden State when he dropped a double-double of 31 points and 13 assists. He also chipped in eight rebounds and one steal.
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Chris Duarte’s injury is taking a toll on the Indiana Pacers
One of the other big things the team is learning is the magnitude of Chris Duarte’s loss to the team. While his scoring has been down compared to last year, it’s his abilities that don’t show up in the box score that’s being missed. The starting lineup, when healthy, consists of one player who is a threat to drive to the hoop, Tyrese Haliburton.
Buddy Hield is mainly a shooter with some ability to drive to the hoop. And up until this road trip, Nembhard had mostly been the main defender and the fifth scoring option. So, it allowed defenses to focus more on Haliburton. This is the reason Indiana got off to slow starts in the first quarter.
We saw this in the Golden State game when the Pacers included Bennedict Mathurin alongside Hield and Nembhard. The team had one of their best first quarters of the season. So, it will be interesting to see how the starting unit looks when Haliburton is back. Will Nembhard go back to being the fifth scoring option or do they allow him to be a little bit more creative with the first unit?
Most likely he’ll be the fifth choice on offense but you can expect him to have some more playmaking on offense. Head coach Rick Carlisle likes having two-point guards in his lineup because it does create more offensive creativity and playmaking. So, it’s possible Nembhard is here to stay with the starters.
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What to make of Chris Duarte’s return for the Indiana Pacers
However, it will be interesting to see what the team decides to do once Duarte returns. His ability to drive to the basket and create shots either for himself or his teammates has been missed. Along with his length and defense.
The team tried using Aaron Nesmith in the starting lineup because he is such a good defender. The success was minimal but the lack of another playmaker was noticeable. Teams mostly ignored Nesmith since he’s not very creative with the ball in his hands.
Now with Duarte coming back, teams have to respect his shot and his ability to get to the rim. It’s the latter ability that puts a lot of pressure on defenses. He’s long been thought to be best utilized off the bench as a scorer with a bit of facilitating the offense. This is still a possibility long term but in the short team, he may have to find some balance with Mathurin.
One of the aspects of his game that the team is really missing is his defense. He’s not just a 3&D player, he has some offense to his game. At 6-foot-5 he has some length to defend on the wing. The Pacers are still missing a big wing defender, despite Nesmith playing tough against bigger guys. Adding Duarte will help give the team another guy to utilize in the rotation.
The team hasn’t provided any recent injury update on Duarte since a week ago. Then the report was that he was “getting closer”. The initial timetable given for his return from injury was 4-6 weeks. We are closing in on that 6-week mark. At this point, the best guess for his return to the court is during the upcoming homestand. Every Pacers fan is rooting for his healthy return.