NBA Matchups: November 13

IND @ ORL | BOS @ BKN | CHI @ NYK | CLE @ PHI | NOP @ OKC | LAC @ HOU | DET @ MIL | WAS @ SAS | MEM @ LAL | MIN @ POR | PHX @ SAC

Indiana Pacers at Orlando Magic (back end)

Team Totals: Pacers 112.5, Magic 111.5

Injury Report: Obi Toppin (Q, ankle)

Pacers projected starters: Tyrese Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin, Ben Sheppard, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner

Magic projected starters: Jalen Suggs, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Franz Wagner, Tristan da Silva, Goga Bitadze

Carlisle quotes: Said “pissed off Colts fans” helped in the stands to get the win, said Turner “did a real solid job” on KAT, said Freeman has to guard and rebound, Quenton Jackson should “hound” his man on defense, said Mathurin wasn’t sprinting early and he made an adjustment to add the pace to his game, said “there’s no substitute for [Mathurin’s] running.”

Mosley quotes: Said Goga is “steady” and stays ready, said Goga is a great rim protector and facilitates on offense, said they have to crash the boards while still getting back in transition, said their fans are part of the reason why they play so well at home, said “nothing” was on his mind when Suggs turned his ankle because “he’s a tough kid, he played football.”

Stats and Notes:

*The Pacers are really cooking on offense and they’re now up to first in halfcourt offense (sixth overall). They’re fifth in rim scoring and only 11th in transition, so they’re really getting great shots in the halfcourt. The Magic have been an excellent rim defense and are allowing the fewest rim points in the league. Orlando is also limiting 3-point shooting and they are the second-best team in the league at keeping teams in the halfcourt. Plus, they’re the best team at limiting offensive rebounding. There’s a whole lot working against the Indiana offense here, but it’ll help that Orlando played last night. The Indiana defense is really starting to look like last year’s, as they’re now third in rim points allowed and have allowed the seventh-fewest C&S points. The Magic are ninth in rim scoring and that has spiked in the last three games (65 against Indiana in the last matchup).

*Tyrese Haliburton’s matchup isn’t exactly ideal, as he’ll certainly get Jalen Suggs. Haliburton’s role is back where it should be with 7.0 minutes of touch time, 15.3 dimes, and 18.3 potential assists in the last three games. The Pacers are short on handlers and Hali’s shot looks to be back. The Pacers have already played the Magic twice and Haliburton wasn’t great with 18/6/7 when he actually made shots, so this still isn’t a great spot to target.

*Pascal Siakam leads the Pacers in scoring against the Magic at 22/7/4 in his 33.7 minutes per game. The matchup is likely going to be against Franz again, and Franz kept him in check during the last game. With the strong interior defense of the Magic, this isn’t ideal for Siakam.

*Bennedict Mathurin exploded on Sunday for a 38-point game against the Knicks, and clearly Carlisle is comfortable playing him huge minutes because this team has no depth. As Carlisle mentioned, Benny’s pace was excellent as he put up 15 transition points to go with his 17 on-ball points (iso/PNR). This matchup might be the best for him because the Magic may be weaker in transition off a B2B game, so I wouldn’t stress with KCP on him.

*This isn’t it for Myles Turner. Goga is a good defender, and the Magic excel on the boards.

*Jalen Suggs rolled his ankle last night, so we’ll have to see if he’s on the injury report. The matchup is obviously quite good with Mathurin likely to pick him up, and Suggs’ usage should be great.

*Franz Wagner is just crushing right now. We’ve seen his passing numbers pop off, and yet again the minutes were held in check because the Magic had another blowout win. This matchup is awesome, as he should smoke Ben Sheppard. With Franz thriving more in up-tempo games against rim funnels, this is about as good as it gets.

*Goga Bitadze gets another revenge game, and he coasted to a 10/12/3 line in 30 minutes. The concern is that he doesn’t get late minutes. It’s usually because of blowout, and maybe this time he’ll get late run.

Great matchups: Franz Wagner

Good matchups: Tyrese Haliburton, Goga Bitadze, Bennedict Mathurin

Bad matchups: Myles Turner

Boston Celtics (back end) at Brooklyn Nets