The New York Knicks started dropping like flies by the end of the series, but when the Indiana Pacers took them down in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, they were missing one their best players as well.<\/p>\n
That same person \u20142022 No. 6 pick Bennedict Mathurin<\/a> \u2014was absent from the roll call the next series. That\u2019s not to say that a healthy Mathurin (and Tyrese Haliburton<\/a>) would\u2019ve led them past the Boston Celtics. But considering how tough the Pacers played the Celtics, they might not have been swept, at least. So, while Mathurin was on the sidelines nursing a torn right shoulder, they would\u2019ve much rather had him on the battlefield.<\/p>\n Indeed, asked about Mathurin after their Conference Finals loss, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle says Mathurin \u201chas a chance to be<\/a> a star caliber player…\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe has gotten to see over the last (two and a half) months what wins,\u201d Carlisle adds, per The Indianapolis Star\u2019s Dustin Dopirack. \u201cIt is defense, speed, quick decision-making and recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so his workouts this summer are going to be geared toward fast, efficient, quick decision making and developing defensively. He has the ability to be a terrific two-way player in this league.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n These comments are notable, as they\u2019ve Mathurin\u2019s most glaring weaknesses.<\/p>\n After the 2024 All-Star Break, he improved in each area, playing a more team-oriented style. This led to a boost in his productivity<\/a> but, more importantly, it put him on solid ground. Up to that point, there were questions about just how long he\u2019d stay with the Pacers. His isolation-heavy style didn\u2019t fit with their ball-movement. His defensive shortcomings were magnified by those of his teammates.<\/p>\n However, Mathurin was only healthy for seven games after the All-Star Break. In one, he played through the injury that would soon end his season<\/a>. That being said, the same competitive fire that helped him to fight through the pain, is what he believes aided the perception of him being a bad teammate.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s a silver lining to Mathurin\u2019s injury, it\u2019s that it motivated him. Not just to make it back to the NBA Playoffs so that he can be a part of it either. It gave Mathurin an opportunity to truly bond with his teammates off-court and see what they needed on it. His injury inspired him to fit in with the group, not just focus on standing out.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn’t easy for me,\u201d Mathurin admits. \u201c… I wish I would come in and be the best player but it’s obviously not going to be as smooth as I want it to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Mathurin\u2019s talent alone may make him the Pacers\u2019 best scorer. Indeed, he scored 25.0 points per game in 2023-24 when taking at least 15 field goal attempts<\/a>. For reference, the highest scoring average on the team belonged to Pascal Siakam<\/a> (21.3 points per game) last season.<\/p>\n However, Siakam and Myles Turner<\/a> have had more success playing off of Haliburton, their primary playmaker. In the 2023-24 regular season, a team-high 17.3 percent of his passes went<\/a> to Turner, who converted 49.8 percent of his shots with Haliburton assisting. Another 12.0 percent were doled out for Siakam, who made 49.6 percent of his attempts off of a Haliburton pass. Just 7.7 percent, seventh on the team, went to Mathurin. Even worse, he only made 36.4 percent of his shots when Haliburton made the pass.<\/p>\n To that point, if Mathurin wants to reach his potential while with the Pacers, it starts by making better and faster reads. Nonetheless, he also needs to learn how to play off of Haliburton, the face of the franchise. If not, he may have to pull a Haliburton, breaking out as a star on another team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The New York Knicks started dropping like flies by the end of the series, but when the Indiana Pacers took them down in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, they were missing one their best players as well. That same person \u20142022 No. 6 pick Bennedict Mathurin \u2014was absent from the roll call the next series. That\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":79642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1608,62,3],"tags":[4303,637,4557,596,1754,1208,2607],"class_list":["post-79623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pacers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-bennedict-mathurin","tag-myles-turner","tag-nba-offseason","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-pascal-siakam","tag-rick-carlisle","tag-tyrese-haliburton"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Pacers\u2019 Rick Carlisle Sees Star Potential In Bennedict Mathurin<\/h2>\n
Changing The Narrative<\/h3>\n
Will<\/em> He Be a Star In Indiana?<\/h3>\n