Tonight while you’re going house-to-house trick-or-treating, you will go entrance lawns adorned with gawdy decorations and blow-up figures. However in the event you’ve ever been visited by somebody or one thing from the good past, you realize that it is rather more delicate and spooky than that.
The hairs in your neck get up. Your breath shortens. Your coronary heart beats a bit of faster. You swear there’s somebody within the room with you.
That’s what it should really feel like taking part in in opposition to Sam Hauser. Forgive the hacky Halloween intro, please.
After scoring ten factors on Opening Night time, Hauser has sat out the final three with again ache, It’s one thing that has plagued him all through the summer time — he woke up funny and it’s been flaring up since the preseason — however returned Wednesday night time in Indianapolis. He performed simply 14 minutes in opposition to the Pacers and scored 5 factors (1-for-4 from behind the arc), however he completed a +12 on the night time (simply behind Neemias Queta’s +18) and his fingerprints had been everywhere in the sport.
If a shooter isn’t hitting photographs, their phantom presence can create house for different teammates to terrorize the protection. Early within the first quarter, twice Tyrese Haliburton needed to keep dwelling on Hauser within the nook, ensuing to a drive from Tatum and a single-coverage fadeaway.
These are admittedly Tatum highlights, however with out Hauser’s menace, Tatum doesn’t have the house to function.
Hauser also can reap the benefits of his personal unseen gravity. Defenses count on him to return up on down screens, however because the preseason, he’s been extra versatile attacking shut outs and attacking the rim. Right here, he reads the protection, curls into the restricted space, and finds Luke Kornet on the rim.
The place Hauser has now not been in a position to sneak up on groups is on the defensive finish. Earlier than the Bucks sport, head coach Joe Mazzulla talked in regards to the difficulties on protection working double-bigs with out Hauser within the rotation and it was clear in opposition to the Pacers simply how a lot he trusts Hauser inside their system. He’s a powerful assist defender and after proving himself in The Finals in opposition to the likes of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, you may depend on him in isolation, too. He drew a charge in semi-transition staying in entrance of and performed Ben Mathurin to a contested two:
The scary season involves an in depth tonight, however Hauser’s terror marketing campaign in opposition to the remainder of the NBA is simply starting.
