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DALLAS — Pascal Siakam had 26 points at halftime Monday night. He scored 3 more the rest of the way, and the Dallas Mavericks came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 125-122 at American Airlines Center.
Siakam went 8-of-9 from the field in the first half, including 5-of-6 from 3-point range, and scored 17 of his points in the second quarter. In the second half, he shot 1-of-7 and missed both of his 3-point attempts. His only field goal after the break was a 4-foot turnaround with 10:15 left in the game. He finished with 29 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists after entering the night averaging 21.4 points.
Early in the game, Mavericks coach Dusty May said, Dallas sent its double-team from the baseline side and Siakam picked it apart. In the second half the doubles came from the top.
“I thought our gap presentation was much better in his isolations,” May said. “In the first half, it felt like we were close enough, but we weren’t impacting the shot line. He was able just to raise his shot up without us impacting the line of a shot. And then the second half, I felt like we kind of got underneath him, and then we had much better gap help.”
“And then just really the guy on the ball did a good job, but also the other four,” May continued. “And then he was able to get into the mid post. I thought our rotations were clean. We doubled him from the baseline side early in the game, and he picked us apart. We came from the top side, and our rotations, other than one time, were pretty clean, and it worked out well for us.”
Pascal Siakam’s 26-Point Half And The Halftime Fix
Siakam scored 10 points in less than two minutes late in the second quarter, on two free throws, a 24-foot 3-pointer, a 13-foot turnaround, and a 24-foot transition 3-pointer. His 23-footer with 1:36 left gave Indiana its largest lead at 63-50. The Pacers shot 24-of-40 (60%) and 9-of-16 from 3-point range in the first half.
After halftime, Indiana went 19-of-42 (45.2%) and 6-of-19 from deep. P.J. Washington blocked Siakam’s 5-foot jumper with 4:19 left, one of his two blocks in the fourth quarter, and Washington’s free throw after a loose-ball foul on Siakam made it 116-108.
Santi Aldama played 19 minutes in his third game with Dallas. The Mavericks switched a lot against Siakam after halftime, Aldama said, and they knew where their help was.
“I think in the first half, he got going, and then we were mindful of, when on offense you want to find the hot hand, on defense you want to do the opposite,” Aldama said. “We were just there, we were communicating, we knew where our help was, and we were just being aggressive, we were being physical.”
“So, just credit to everybody out there just playing hard, understanding what was killing us, and finding a solution,” Aldama added.
In the fourth quarter specifically, May said, Dallas sat down and contained the ball better than it had in the first three. Indiana rarely lets a defense get set, he said, because the Pacers put so much pressure on the paint and spray the ball out. Indiana scored 29 points in the fourth.
Dallas Mavericks Win The Glass 43-27
The Mavericks outrebounded Indiana 43-27. Dallas had 10 offensive rebounds to the Pacers’ 1 and outscored them 16-3 on second-chance points. Indiana came in averaging 9.5 offensive rebounds per game.
Washington finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Late in the game, he said, Dallas wanted to limit Indiana to one shot and find the mismatch on the other end.
“Getting stops, being able to limit them to one shot on the defensive end, and just take good shots on our end, get the ball where we needed to get it, and find the mismatch,” Washington said.
Rebounding the way Dallas did Monday is something the Mavericks hang their hats on every night, Washington said, on both ends.
“When we rebound like that, it just gives us a chance to win each and every night,” Washington explained. “So that’s something we put our hats on each and every night. And it’s crashing the offensive glass, and obviously just get better on the defensive glass.”
Aldama said the last four games have been the Mavericks’ best stretch on the offensive glass. Working on it in practice is only part of it, he said.
“We want it,” Aldama explained. “Last three games have been amazing. Four now, actually. So last four games we’ve been an elite offensive rebounding team, and we just got to keep doing it. I think it’s obviously we work on it, but like just a lot of will. You want to come up with the ball, 50-50 ball. It’s ours.”
Dallas entered Monday averaging 12.8 offensive rebounds. Daniel Gafford played 19 minutes, 36 seconds, and rookie Morez Johnson Jr. missed the game with a left shin contusion. May said Dallas was attacking matchups and looking for the short roll, and late in the game the ball was going to its stars rather than to cutters.
“And so we didn’t have cutting, and then obviously when Gaff plays less than 20 minutes, that’s a big part of our offensive rebounding,” May explained. “And Morez, another one being out, that’s probably the difference in us averaging 16 and getting 10. It’s probably just a personnel deal.”
Dallas (7-4) opens a three-game road trip Thursday against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center, with tip-off at 7 p.m. CT. Indiana (3-8) hosts the Washington Wizards on Wednesday.
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