Pacers can't stop Jerami Grant, struggle to score in 114-110 loss to Portland

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Pacers had a brutal offensive outing and dropped a winnable game to a struggling team, falling 114-110 to the Portland Trail Blazers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Monday night.

The Pacers fell to 9-7 with five of those seven losses coming at home. The Blazers improved to 5-12.

Here are four observations.

Pacers don't have an answer for Jerami Grant

Blazers forward Jerami Grant has become Portland's featured offensive weapon since Damian Lillard was traded and Anfernee Simons was injured, and he handled that assignment just fine.

The 6-7, 210-pounder wasn't the Blazers' primary ball-handler, but he was the frequently the handler in pick-and-roll situations and he burned the Pacers in those scenarios time and time again. The Pacers pick-and-roll defense is set up to accept contested 2-point jumpers as a better option than drives to the rim or passes for 3-pointers. Grant took advantage by getting buckets in the midrange over smaller defenders. Grant scored 34 points on 12-of-18 shooting and 3-of-3 from 3-point range. He scored 21 points in the second half on 8 of 12 shooting, making his only 3-pointer and all four of his free throws.

Grant leads the Blazers with 23.4 points per game on 45.1% shooting this season.

"He's a good player an he's proven himself over the past few years," Pacers center Myles Turner said. "He takes advantage of smaller guys on him. When he has bigger guys on him, he goes out to the perimeter. He knows how to play and he made some big plays in the second half."

Blazers can't guard Tyrese Haliburton

Tyrese Haliburton cracked 20 points for the fourth straight game and the seventh time in his last eight, and he did it in the first half.

Haliburton's first two buckets were 3s, and that only made it easier for him to get to the basket off the dribble as he blew past Blazers defenders for much of the second quarter. In the first half, he made 7-of-9 field goals and 2-of-3 3-point attempts while also making 4-of-5 free throws and dishing out four assists.

In the second half, Haliburton was a little quieter but still finished with 33 points on 11-of-17 shooting and nine assists. It was his fifth game this season with at least 30 points and his third in his last four games.

Pacers' other scorers go cold; team commits 20 turnovers

As good as Haliburton was, the rest of the Pacers had major problems scoring. No one else scored more than 11 points or hit more than five field goals. Haliburton hit three of the Pacers' eight 3-pointers as the rest of the team was 5-of-27 from 3-point range. Turner and guards Bennedict Mathurin had 11 points each but no one else had more than nine.

The Pacers finished the game 42 of 88 from the floor, a respectable 47.7%, but players not named Haliburton were 31 of 71 (43.7%). The Pacers also turned the ball over 20 times against a Trail Blazers defense that thrives off causing turnovers. Their 8 of 33 3-point shooting performance was the worst of the year, and the Pacers' offense that entered Monday's action leading the NBA in both scoring and offensive rating posted its third-lowest point total and third-lowest efficiency rating of the season at 1.01 points per possession.

"I'd probably say (the turnovers were) 60 percent them, 40 percent us," Haliburton said. "I thought they did a good job. They got a lot of length on the floor with wings Toumani (Camara), Jerami (Grant) Matisse (Thybulle) who has some of the best hands in basketball. I think they got a lot of young dudes who play the passing lanes really well, play gaps and they're disciplined. Chauncey (Billups) is doing a good job with those guys. Yeah, I think some of the turnovers were unforced, but I thought they did a good job."

Pacers don't get necessary stops late in game

For all of their problems, the Pacers still had a chance in the game's final two minutes.

The Pacers caught a break when a foul against Turner on an attempted block of a dunk attempt by Blazers wing Shaedon Sharpe was overturned after Pacers coach Rick Carlisle challenged the call. The Blazers still got the ball after the overturn, but they than turned the ball over when center DeAndre Ayton stepped out of bounds with the ball. On the ensuing possession, the Pacers got a 3-pointer from Aaron Nesmith that brought the Pacers back within three points with 1:53 left.

A layup by Grant and a field goal by point guard and former Pacers Malcolm Brogdon put the Blazers up six with 38.3 seconds left, but the Pacers answered with a driving layup by Haliburton, then Turner stole a pass from Thybulle and Haliburton found Brown streaking to the rim for a dunk that made it 112-110 with 28.3 seconds to go.

The Pacers trapped on the ensuing possession and nearly got a steal from Malcolm Brogdon before fouling Grant with 18.6 seconds to go. Portland was not yet in the bonus and called a timeout and because there was still significant separation between the shot clock and the game clock and the Pacers had two timeouts remaining, Carlisle opted not to foul and instead decided to play the possession straight.

"It was a 4 1/2 second-difference, shot clock and game clock," Carlisle said. "Two-point game. If we get the stop, we rebound and timeout and we run a short clock play with a chance to tie or win. At a two-point deficit, to go ahead and foul and make it a four-point game does not make sense."

But the Pacers didn't get a stop and the game was effectively over after that. Brogdon took the inbound pass and was isolated against Brown on the left wing. He dribbled back out beyond the 3-point line, but then went right into the paint, shrugged Brown off with his left shoulder and hit a 7-foot pull-up in the lane to put the game away. Buddy Hield tried for a four-point play to tie it by leaning in to contact in hopes of drawing a foul and knocking down a 3-pointer but did neither and the Pacers suffered their fourth loss in their last eight games.

Pacers stats vs. Trail Blazers

Portland 114, Indiana 111

PORTLAND (114): Camara 1-3 2-2 5, Grant 12-18 7-7 34, Ayton 9-13 4-4 22, Brogdon 9-20 5-6 24, Sharpe 4-15 2-2 11, Jab.Walker 0-3 1-2 1, Thybulle 0-2 0-0 0, Reath 1-1 1-2 4, Henderson 4-10 3-6 13. Totals 40-85 25-31 114.

INDIANA (110): Hield 3-10 2-2 9, Toppin 3-9 2-2 9, Turner 5-11 1-1 11, B.Brown 5-10 0-0 11, Haliburton 11-17 8-9 34, Jackson 1-2 0-0 2, Smith 3-5 2-2 9, Mathurin 4-10 3-5 11, Nembhard 4-6 0-0 8, Nesmith 3-6 0-1 7, McConnell 0-2 0-2 0, Sheppard 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 42-88 18-24 111.

POR 30 35 18 31 — 114

IND 34 26 23 27 — 111

3-Point Goals—Portland 9-18 (Grant 3-3, Henderson 2-3, Reath 1-1, Camara 1-2, Brogdon 1-3, Sharpe 1-3, Jab.Walker 0-1, Thybulle 0-2), Indiana 8-33 (Haliburton 3-6, Smith 1-2, Nesmith 1-3, Toppin 1-4, B.Brown 1-5, Hield 1-6, McConnell 0-1, Nembhard 0-1, Mathurin 0-2, Turner 0-3). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Portland 38 (Ayton 13), Indiana 42 (Turner 8). Assists_Portland 20 (Brogdon 7), Indiana 26 (Haliburton 9). Total Fouls_Portland 21, Indiana 24. A_14,508 (20,000)

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Blazers: Jerami Grant scores 34 to beat Pacers