Tuomas Iisalo Makes Strong Ty Jerome Claim After Pacers Loss

With 28.2 seconds left Wednesday night, Ty Jerome’s floater cut Indiana’s lead over the Memphis Grizzlies to one. Aaron Nesmith’s corner 3 on the next possession sent the Indiana Pacers to a 107-103 win at FedExForum.

Jerome finished with 23 points on 10-of-20 shooting. He went 2-of-10 from 3-point range and added 4 rebounds and 3 assists against 3 turnovers in 29 minutes. Memphis was plus-11 with him on the floor, and he made 1 of his 2 free throws.

Early in the third quarter, Jerome scored 7 straight points on a pull-up 3, a floater, and a reverse layup. That stretch finished a 12-2 run and gave the Grizzlies a 66-58 lead, their largest of the night.

In the second quarter, his 27-foot 3 in transition tied the game 37-37. He scored 12 points in the first half and 11 after it.

He also set up Cameron Boozer’s 3-pointer with 46 seconds left, which cut Indiana’s lead to 104-101.

Jerome opened the season with a career-high 45 points in a 123-103 win over the Utah Jazz. He was named the Western Conference Player of the Week in October, and he scored 40 in Monday’s 135-134 overtime loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

On Wednesday, Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes put Jerome first on the Grizzlies’ list in a ranking of every team’s top trade assets.

Generating pick-and-rolls is Jerome’s job in Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo’s offense. Jerome took 20 shots against Indiana, and half of them were 3s.

“Well, you already mentioned a few of them there, so that’s a good start,” Iisalo said. “It’s the same question just asked, so it will take some time. It will take some time. We’re still figuring out what the guys can also do in this ecosystem and together. And there’s obviously, you can have others bring it up, [too]. You can have that. That can also slow down the game. You can speed it up or slow it down that way. We know that Ty is in there to generate those pick and rolls for us. He’s in some of the highest percentiles in the whole league when he gets those, and he’s very efficient with them.”

“We just got to figure that out and that’s why we watch the tape and then draw the conclusions and try, [in the] small amount of time that we have to practice, we try to work on those,” Iisalo continued. “[There are] a lot of them. You can break them down, the highest level, that’s the team tactics, what are some of those, but then there’s also the individual decision-making in those situations, whether the handler or the screener, or the three other players around it, or four other players around it. And then there’s their skill level, the tools that they have. The decisions are more about, let’s say, the tactics, what you make in that situation.”

“But if you don’t have the technical skills, for example, now you must work on it, and that can take a longer time,” Iisalo added. “It can still be addressed, and then it’s more robust. That’s why you see the best players in the world. They’re extremely skilled and that opens up more tools for them. So we just got to find the right level to access, then work on that, get better. That’s a very straightforward and logical process.”

Cam Spencer played 23 minutes and finished with 9 assists, 7 points, and 6 rebounds. Spencer, Jerome, and Cedric Coward accounted for 16 of Memphis’ 28 assists. Indiana finished with 22.

Coward scored 23 on 8-of-19 shooting and went 4-of-12 from 3. He also had 9 rebounds and 4 steals. Zach Edey finished with 13 rebounds and 11 points and assisted on Jerome’s late floater.

Memphis committed 19 turnovers, and Indiana scored 24 points off them. Jerome’s 3 turnovers came on a lost ball in the first quarter, a lost ball in the second, and a travel with 0.9 seconds left in the half.

In the fourth quarter, Jerome went 2-of-6 and missed all three of his 3-point tries, including a 30-foot pull-up with 4:08 left and a 26-foot step-back with 1:29 to go. Spencer was on the floor with him for the final 2:12.

Next for the Grizzlies (6-2) is a 7 p.m. CT home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday.