East Notes: Pacers, Bennedict Mathurin, Hornets, Sixers

Pacers

Point guard Tyrese Haliburton and rookie shooting guard Bennedict Mathurin have proved to be quite the combination when on the court together, offering the Pacers hope for the future.

“We play off each other well,” Haliburton told Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer. “I think his game complements mine in the sense of, I play a lot of spread pick-and-roll where I’m attacking downhill or getting the floater, but also facilitating out of it. When teams have to tag on the big or come over to help on me, I can give it to him on the second side. 

“He’s such a downhill force getting to the cup and scoring the basketball, he’s really hard to guard on the second side of actions. So, I think naturally, it just is a good fit.”

Mathurin was equally complimentary of Haliburton.

“He’s a great point guard who gets to the bucket whenever he wants,” Mathurin said, via O’Connor. “When the defense is hard on him, I’m trying to make his job a little bit easier. So, just being on the wing with him and having him just pass me the ball is a great thing.”

• Shooting guard Buddy Hield has signed a contract extension with Nike, as relayed by Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files. “It’s good, man,” Hield said, via Agness. “I’ve been a Nike guy for a long time.”

Hornets

• Small forward Cody Martin underwent an arthroscopic procedure on his injured left knee and will miss approximately six weeks, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.
• The Hornets have already been missing point guard LaMelo Ball (ankle) and Gordon Hayward (shoulder). “Tough loss to Charlotte’s rotation, which has dealt with injuries to multiple key players this season,” Charania wrote of the Martin news.

76ers

Center Joel Embiid seemed to question being pulled from the game by coach Doc Rivers after picking up his fourth foul in the third quarter in a loss to the Hawks. Atlanta went on a tear with Embiid on the sideline.

“In those situations, I feel like I really don’t have anything to lose,” Embiid said, via Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I should be on the floor. I think I’m smart enough to not foul, but I thought that’s probably when the game changed. They went on that run, and we could never get it back.

“I trust whatever my teammates and my coaches say. Tonight, it just happened to be, at the time, probably the wrong decision.”