On Ray J Dennis & the Pacers being the Pacers

Recapping Indiana's Summer League win over the Cavs with a play and the player of the game

By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper

In Game 82 of the regular season, the Pacers came back from 27 points down to win over the Cleveland Cavaliers with Johnny Furphy, Quenton Jackson, Ray J Dennis, and Enrique Freeman all playing significant roles. In Game 1 of Summer League, the Summer Pacers came back from 16 points down to win over the Cleveland Cavaliers with Johnny Furphy, Quenton Jackson, Ray J Dennis, and Enrique Freeman all playing significant roles.

Granted, Furphy was limited to playing only nine minutes after taking a blow to the head, but he racked up eight points during his brief cameo, which included knocking down a three off movement above the break, scoring at the rim out of a stampede cut, and side-stepping uphill to his left from the right corner to can another triple. Not unlike his sturdier frame, there were also visible gains to be seen in his play, despite the fact that he didn't play all that much.

And yet, even as Furphy didn't quite look like Furphy (in a good way -- well, aside from some chaotic left-handed drives into help), there was a lot about the Summer Pacers, beyond just the whole "pulling off another heist during clutch time" thing, that looked a lot like the Actual Pacers (also, in a good way).

"The program doesn't change regardless of whether it's the G League, Pacers, or wherever it's at," Quenton Jackson said during a sideline interview in between the third and fourth quarters. At the time, he was answering a question about the familiar way in which the Summer Pacers were pushing the pace off makes, but his response also could've applied just as easily to the defense, particularly in the third quarter.

Play of the Game: Any press is good press

During the 2024-25 season, the Pacers logged 973 possessions with at least three back-court defenders, including the playoffs. By comparison, the Brooklyn Nets ranked second in that category with just 468 such possessions. Put simply, the Pacers apply un(press)cedented amounts of extended pressure -- which also (ahem) extends to Summer League, apparently.

With 3:39 to play in the third quarter, Indiana turned up the heat even by Vegas standards. Or maybe, as it applies to the type basketball that is typically played in the city of electric lights, especially by Vegas standards. This is Jackson, Dennis, and Freeman all picking up full-court in what was the middle of a 9-0 run.

After the ball finally crossed half-court, they each took turns keeping the action out of the paint. Notably, the ball never broke the free throw line until there was less than five seconds on the shot-clock, and even then, the Cavs didn't so much break the free throw line, as they more so straddled it with Jackson not at all straddling the line of winning any and all 50/50 balls that came his way in the frame.

It may have taken them awhile to adjust to Vegas time, as they certainly weren't that lively in the first half, but to quote Jackson, that's Pacers basketball, "wherever it's at."

Player of the Game: Ray J of hope

With all due respect to Jackson, who amassed 12 of his 24 points for the game in the third quarter, while playing both like a powder keg on defense and as if he had been shot out of a cannon at the other end of the floor, the control that Ray J Dennis had over the offense with the ball in his hands against a variety of pick-and-roll coverages gets the nod for this game.

When the Cavs played drop coverage in the first half, he went to his hostage dribble to get his defender on his back and then glided to the basket around the seal screen from Freeman.

In the second half, the Dennis-Freeman combo also problem-solved against ICE coverage. Here, when the on-ball defender flips their hips to push the action to the sideline, Dennis lifts back toward half-court to set up his defender as Freeman adjusts the angle on the pick. Then, when the Cavs go ICE-to-switch, Dennis spins to get downhill against the bigger defender while also evading the dig from the strong-side corner to eventually read the help at the rim.

That's a nice bit of chemistry from those two! There should probably still be some concern over how floater dependent he is as scorer. Even in this game, when he finished with 26 points and nine assists, he went 1-of-4 on runners while only attempting three shots as layups. It was similar in the G League last season, when he attempted 83 runners in the half-court to just 74 layups, of which he converted at a below-average 45 percent clip. In this game, he still managed to get to the line seven times despite that uneven ratio, but there were spots where, as a smaller guard, it was evident that he doesn't quite have Andrew Nembhard's bionic shoulder to clear space for himself at the rim while decelerating.

Still, for a team that last summer was dependent on Jarace Walker, Tristen Newton, and Quenton Jackson to play the part of primary initiators while very nearly ending the exhibition slate with more turnovers (101) than assists (102), Dennis provided a Ray of hope in that he looked the part of primary initiator enough that other players didn't necessarily have to be as pressed trying their hand at being a steady hand.

Don't get it twisted. Jackson and Kam Jones both did their fair share of wheeling and dealing, but there was also enough flexibility between the two of them and Dennis that they could also play as screeners and slashers. In that way, there were stack actions with Jones as the stack screener and Jackson lifting up from the corner either to shoot or attack off the catch.

And there was even some direction from Jackson to Taelon Peter, when the Pacers were down four with 1:20 to play, as he could be seen signaling for stack on a sideline out of bounds play, pounding fist-over-fist while motioning for Peter to enter the play as the stack screener.

After the Cavs committed an away from the play foul that sent Dennis to the line for one free throw, the Pacers lined up in the same manner, only rather than looping up into the stack screen, Peter simply made an exit for the corner, distorting the tag.

After all, with him simply cutting from one corner to the other, he removed the low-man as Freeman was rolling to the basket. Plus, when the on-ball defender attempted to peel off to the perimeter, motioning for the defender at the wing to tag switch on the roll, the rotation is much longer from the wing than what would've been the case from the corner.

Multiple ball-handlers, with multiple guards capable of playing multiple roles. Once again, to quote Jackson, that's Pacers basketball "wherever it's at." As of now, the role of third-string point guard is still up for grabs. Ray J Dennis and Quenton Jackson are both on two-way contracts, and Kam Jones just signed a four-year contract. All of them play the position differently and might have a case in a pinch. If nothing else, the competency from Dennis in this game and potentially for the rest of Summer League should at least provide more clarity as to the competency of players like Furphy and Freeman, who are reliant on the advantages created by others to demonstrate how advantageous they might be at the next level.

With one game in the books, the program looks like the program and the Summer Pacers look more like the Actual Pacers, at least in function and late-game freneticism, than last summer's Summer Pacers. With three games left to go, it would bode well headed into next season if that statement grows to be more true as it pertains to the individuals on the roster as well as the roster at-large.