Mavs Growing Pains: Pacers’ Myles Turner Takes Advantage of Dallas’ Frontcourt Inexperience

In just 30 minutes played, Turner feasted inside and on the perimeter en route to 33 points and eight rebounds on 10-15 shooting as the Pacers blew out the Mavs, 133-111, snapping their seven-game win streak. All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton ran several pick-and-rolls with Turner to perfection, putting Lively in a tough spot defensively.

As Lively gains experience, playing against floor-stretching bigs shouldn’t be an issue. The 20-year-old has all the physical tools and quickness to be able to guard on the perimeter as well as in the paint, but it just takes time to get to a point where a player can do that consistently against any opponent. And who knows? Based on what we saw from Lively in his pre-draft process, he might end up being able to space the floor from the perimeter like Turner at some point too.

Despite having a few defensive breakdowns – and really, they weren't so much "breakdowns" as they were "slightly late rotations" – Lively still managed to tally four points, three rebounds and four steals in 14 minutes against the Pacers while being a +9 on the night. He’ll have a chance to rebound and show more improvement on Tuesday, as the Mavs take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second game of a four-game road trip.