Taelon Peter gets a move on as Summer Pacers stall out

Recapping Indiana's 104-85 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder with the play and player of the game

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

Turns out, the Flyover Finals look a bit different in the electric lights of Las Vegas -- especially when the Pacers don't shoot lights out. For the game, in what was an excessive display of Summer League, the Summer Pacers shot a dismal 8-of-42 from three and finished with more turnovers (19) than assists (16). Of course, when the starters shoot a combined 2-of-19 from three, with the two coming from tweener big man Enrique Freeman, assists aren't exactly going to be easy to come by. Still, the run of the offense also didn't exactly come as easily as what was the case in the opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers, either.

By comparison, Oklahoma City put more length on the ball (and flocked to the ball) against Ray J Dennis, who went 1-of-10 from the field with five turnovers as the follow-up to the comfort he displayed piloting the pick-and-roll against various coverages in the prior outing. Meanwhile, when Dennis was off the floor, there was no Quenton Jackson to do Quenton Jackson things, as the live-wire defender and serial paint-attacker was held out due to left leg soreness.

That left Kam Jones, who appears as though he is going to have to iron out his shot while also being fairly left-hand dominant, as the only other initiator. Johnny Furphy is putting the ball on the deck and pressuring the rim more often from above-the-break (he dunked after dribbling behind his back to his left!), but he was pressed to locate passing avenues on the move when he got cut off and didn't always look sure of what move to make when forced to create for himself.

Play of the game: A series of unfortunate events

All of that culminated in this sequence, which should effectively be viewed as a summary of the struggles in this game, as well as for the immediate outlook of some of the young players looking to potentially level up next season.

When Jones picks up the ball at the elbow after taking one dribble with his right, Furphy reignites the offense by lifting up from the corner and flowing into a toss-and-chase action as the screener.

But, to reiterate: As was also the case later in the frame, when he came off a down screen for a touch to create from the elbow and came up way short after stepping back to his left, he also wasn't close here in his attempt to generate separation.

Then, after Enrique Freeman snagged the rebound, he got enveloped by length on the putback as an undersized center before also missing some potential passing outlets with his back to the basket. To cap things off, Jones came up way short on a grenade that he was forced to toss up from the logo. That said, another thing that stands out about that possession is that the ball never touched the paint with the exception of Freeman's rebound. In that way, while this game certainly wasn't a sequel to the Flyover Finals, Oklahoma City's defense in terms of creating a no-fly zone in the paint and deflecting what passes were made out of the paint appeared to travel just fine to Las Vegas -- especially as various players for the Pacers had more opportunity to stretch their legs, only to find less elbow room.

Player of the game: Get a move on

Oh hey, remember that toss-and-chase action that Furphy just executed in the prior clip? It looks a bit different when Taelon Peter is the player receiving the ball and rising up to shoot from behind the pitch.

That wasn't the only action he made look different. For frame of reference, the Actual Pacers run this baseline out of bounds play, in which Tyrese Haliburton sprints into a hand-off with a pindown in the middle (i.e. zoom or Chicago) as the inbounds passer, fairly often.

Notably, the Hornets switched on the pindown in that clip; and yet, Aaron Nesmith stayed spaced to the corner. By comparison, watch Peter in that same role.

To be fair, that switch is far more impromptu, as the defender trailing Dennis literally shoves his teammate to trade assignments while overextending himself, but it's still rare that the pindown screener actually looks to slip there.

Peter is a fairly intuitive mover and he definitely isn't shy, at least on offense. This is a set play designed for him to put stress on the low-man, who has to choose between following him through a pair of elevator doors on the weak-side or helping as the tagger against the empty-side pick-and-roll.

Granted, his defender didn't try to squeeze through the doors with him, but he still did well to time his cut in tandem with the roll.

He's taken a couple of quick shots that he might wish he had back in retrospect, he filled the same lane as Furphy running middle in transition, and he also made some switch-or-stay and veer-switch (or lack of veer-switch) errors on the defensive end that created domino effects for his teammates, but he's physical and generally stays square defending with his chest in isolation. This, along with the vertical contest, was certainly eye-catching.

As was the sequence that followed thereafter, with him sizing up and attacking a switch downhill before reading the help and dishing to the corner.

All of which is to say that, in a game that wanted for both intrigue and shooting, Taelon Peter brought plenty while also leaving plenty of reason to think that there might be reason to want to see more -- not only at Summer League but also perhaps on the third and final two-way contract.