Pacers blow out Hawks again, this time without Tyrese Haliburton

ATLANTA -- After pounding the Hawks at home last week, the Pacers crushed Atlanta again Friday, winning 126-108 at State Farm Arena despite playing without point guard Tyrese Haliburton.

The Pacers have won nine of their last 10 games, including three in a row, to improve to 23-15. They sit alone at fourth place in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks fell to 15-22.

Here are four observations.

The Pacers can still take advantage of bad Hawks defense

Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said in his pre-game press conference Friday that he thought the math would change significantly from the first two games Indiana won against the Hawks this season. The Pacers scored a combined 307 points in those two games, beating them in a 157-152 In-Season Tournament group play shootout in Atlanta on Nov. 21, then blowing them out 150-116 in Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Jan. 5.

However, the Pacers had their All-Star for that game in Haliburton, who posted 47 points and 34 assists in those games and would have had more if he didn't take just six shots in the blowout. Carlisle didn't go into the game expecting to be able to go shot-for-shot with the high-powered Hawks a third time with Haliburton out with a strained left hamstring. The Pacers entered the game leading the NBA in scoring and the Hawks were fourth, but without one of the league's best offensive players -- a point guard who produces at or close to 50 points per game between his own scoring and assists -- Carlisle thought the Pacers might have trouble keeping up with Trae Young, Dejounte Murry and the Hawks' young scorers.

"The math has changed," Carlisle said in his pre-game press conference. "... I don't know what this game is exactly going to look like. I know that they're very, very difficult to guard. I know the last game we played them a week ago, they missed a bunch of shots they usually make and we made everything we looked at. So that game was a little skewed. I'm expecting a haymaker from them."

The Hawks were indeed difficult to guard, but the math didn't change that much because they were just about as bad on the defensive end as they were last week and the Pacers didn't need Haliburton to make the shots they were getting -- mostly layups.

The Pacers have been notably bad on the defensive end this year -- though they have been dramatically improving since making a lineup change in late December -- but even in the aggregate the Hawks have actually been worse. Heading into Friday night's game, the Hawks were one of two teams allowing more points per game than the Pacers -- 124.0 to the Pacers 123.8 -- and one of just four teams with a worse defensive rating. The Pacers give up more points in the paint (60.6) than any other team in the league, but the Hawks aren't far behind, giving up the fourth most with 55.7.

The Pacers more than took advantage the Hawks permissiveness. In the first quarter they made 16 of 19 shots. They hit their only two 3s, but the other 14 field goals came in the lane for 28 first-quarter points in the paint. By halftime, they were up to 48 points in the paint as they shot 31 of 46 from the floor (67.4%).

A lot of it came off of basic drives and dishes and exploiting traps on pick-and-rolls that left rollers and cutters open at the rim with easy looks.

"People don't really realize that's one of the main things we do is score in the paint," point guard Andrew Nembhard said. "Our movement creates problems where guys are mismatched on the weak side. It opens that paint up and that's where we've been making our mark there."

They were slightly less efficient in the second half but not much. They finished 53 of 79 from the field (a team-record 67.1%) and 11 of 18 from 3-point range, scoring 76 points in the paint and posting 1.24 points per possession.

"The spirit is really good," Carlisle said. "The spirit of the group, the guys who were in the game were playing the game and encouraging each other. The guys on the bench were up and encouraging the guys that were playing. When you can have that kind of synergy, you can have some special nights and you can have a special group."

Pacers wings get back on track

Part of the reason the Pacers looked so much different Wednesday night in their very rock-fighty 112-104 win over the lowly Wizards was the poor shooting of their most explosive wings -- Bennedict Mathurin, Buddy Hield and Aaron Nesmith. Hield was held scoreless on 0 of 5 shooting. Mathurin had 16 points, but was 4 of 13 from the floor. Nesmith scored 10 on 3 of 9 shooting.

Friday night they were each much more efficient. That was in large part because they had no trouble getting layups against the Hawks, but they were also better from outside. Hield scored 18 points on 7 of 11 shooting, drilling 4 of his 6 3-point attempts. Nesmith was 5 of 6 from the field, 3 of 3 from 3-point range for 13 points. Mathurin didn't shoot outside much, but scored 15 points on 6 of 9 shooting.

Hield in particular needed a night like this. He entered the evening shooting 37.5% from 3-point range, significantly below a career average above 40%. In his previous seven games before Friday, he was 12 of 38 (31.6%) from beyond the arc.

"It's been a different year, but you just have to weather the storm to wherever," Hield said. "Just trust your work and what is in store for you. Everything works out."

Pacers point guards excellent again

Though Carlisle knew the Pacers would miss Haliburton as an overall offensive force, he had no concerns about his remaining ball-handlers running the offense. Yet again, T.J. McConnell, Andrew Nembhard and Bruce Brown proved worthy of his trust.

Nembhard, who started at point guard in Haliburton's place, shook off a two-point, 1-of-8-shooting performance on Wednesday night and scored 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting, including 2 of 2 from 3-point range with six assists against one turnover. McConnell had another near-flawless floor game with 14 assists against five turnovers, six points on 3 of 5 shooting and three steals. Bruce Brown, the starting shooting guard and secondary ball-handler, scored 12 points and added four assists.

Again, the point guards maintained the standard of sharing and moving the ball. The Pacers combined for 41 assists on 53 field goals. Eight players scored in double figures, but no one had more than 18.

The guards also led the charge on the defensive end. It was the second straight game they'd held an opponent under 110 points and the seventh time in the last 10 games they held an opponent under 120. They held the explosive Hawks to 44.9% shooting, including 11 of 30 (36.7%) from 3-point range and 1.06 points per possession. Brown took the primary assignment of guarding Hawks All-Star point guard Trae Young and the Pacers held him to 13 points on 4 of 17 shooting. Sharp-shooting wing Bogdan Bogdanovic was held to 10 points on 3 of 12 shooting. Outside of Dejounte Murray, who had 29 points, the Pacers kept just about everyone else contained.

"You gotta have playmakers and it's even better when you have playmakers who can defend," Carlisle said. "With their two guards and Bogdanovic coming off the bench, they got a lot of firepower. You have to play the game at both ends. It's the second night in a row where Bruce has really given us a strong lift offensively and been real solid defensively."

Pacers back-up bigs step up

The Pacers had an advantage at the rim in both the starting lineup and second units and they exploited it.

Not only did they outscore the Hawks 76-48 in the paint, they also won the rebounding battle 44-28 and they combined to block 10 shots.

Center Myles Turner scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds while starting power forward Jalen Smith scored six points, but the Pacers got even more production from backups Obi Toppin and Isaiah Jackson. Toppin scored 18 points on 7 of 7 shooting and Jackson had 12 on 6 of 7. They combined for 10 rebounds and Jackson blocked four shots.

"I think it was very important (to defend the rim)," Jackson said. "It really helped us out on defense and to get out in transition. I feel like a lot of the blocks we had put us in transition. They want to shoot the ball of course, but they're more of a paint team, and we did not let get them get in the paint, we were just playing a good brand of basketball on defense.