"This is amazing… except, what the f*** are we celebrating?"

Indiana's Myles Turner is stepping up when it matters -- but the job's not done yet

Myles Turner was reportedly “under the weather” before Game 3’s victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, an illness severe enough that coach Rick Carlisle talked about it for a while in his postgame chat with the media.

But this wasn’t the kind of bad-moon weather that forces people and animals indoors. However Turner may have felt, his play was the kind of ecstatic, nourishing rain that helped the Indiana Pacers’ defense blossom when they needed it most.

Tortured analogies aside, Turner was tremendous Wednesday night despite subpar shooting numbers (3-for-11 from the field, nine points). You could see his energy flagging at times, particularly in the first quarter, when it took him a while to gear up. But when the going got tough, Turner got going. He finished the game with a whopping five blocks (bringing him to eight on the series) and a steal while accumulating just two fouls in roughly 30 minutes of work.

The foul piece is particularly important given the legal troubles the rest of the Pacers’ defensive stalwarts found themselves in. Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, and Pascal Siakam all had three fouls before halftime. But it didn’t matter. Turner was there again and again to salvage the defensive possession.

Three of Turner’s blocks came in the fourth quarter, including two on the signature possession of the game’s waning moments. Watch Turner help corral SGA on the pick-and-roll, adroitly rotate back to Chet Holmgren, dissuade the Jalen Williams drive, sprint out and block a Holmgren three-pointer, keep his balance, then slide with and swat the subsequent Holmgren drive:

That’s a Tasmanian Devil-level effort for anyone, much less an ill seven-footer finishing out a breakneck-paced game!

Turner, just 29 but an inveterate veteran of the trade block, rarely gets talked about positively or negatively, unless people mention his LEGOs (he builds LEGOs, he doesn’t play with them. Get it right, or he’ll right you.). Turner occupies a funky space on the Indiana Pacers. He’s one of the few centers in the league who can legitimately protect the rim and shoot three-pointers (not just stand awkwardly at the arc), and he’s shed unfair “soft” labels over the years by improving his post game.

Yet, he’s a ghost in the discourse. Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam are the stars, and Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard are the sexy young super-role-players. TJ McConnell is the quirky white guy people love (or love to hate). Benn Mathurin is feast-or-famine and draws outsized attention, particularly when he’s pouring in 27 points in 22 minutes, as he did Wednesday night. Obi Toppin is a human highlight (and lowlight) reel. Even Ben Sheppard has a mustache.

Turner, meanwhile, is one of the longest single-team-tenured players in the league, and people just… take him for granted.

They shouldn’t! Turner is a Swiss Army Knife of a center. He can pick, he can pop, he can roll. He’ll swat guys at the rim, sure, but he’s also capable of swinging Mjolnir himself:

And while Turner isn’t Bam Adebayo on the perimeter, he can survive for precious seconds when on an island against damn near anyone. (Interestingly, the Thunder haven’t gone out of their way to target him; although he’s a far stouter defender than Tyrese Haliburton or Obi Toppin, I wonder if there wouldn’t be some value in removing his presence at the rim by attacking him more in pick-and-roll, too.)

In short, there’s little Turner can’t do at the center position. The monumental goliaths at the five-spot these days have distorted positional expectations. Turner isn’t Jokic, or AD, or Wembanyama. His ceiling isn’t particularly high, and he’ll have moments of frustrating inconsistency. Foul trouble has cropped up here and there, and I wish he was a tad hungrier for rebounds.

But Turner also has an unusually large pile of skills to pick through for a sub-All-Star, a rare flexibility rendering him resilient to both opponent and game situation. He will contribute in a variety of ways. There have been times during these playoffs where he’s been Indiana’s most important player (something that you can say about virtually every Pacer, to their credit). He’s been a metronomic scorer (double figures in 16 of 19 games), a reliable defender, and a clear emotional leader — just watch him scream after every highlight.

There are better big men in the league, but few would fit this team better. Versatility is the vanguard of creativity. Turner’s ability to do a little bit of everything makes for a convenient canvas for Haliburton and coach Rick Carlisle’s respective brands of genius, but he’s more than capable of outputting art himself, like when he out-Holmgren’d Holmgren with this tasty little pull-up:

After so many years as the butt of trade rumors, it’s fitting that Turner (who is sixth on Indiana’s all-time games played list) has become a core component of a two-time conference finalist. Now, he’s just two wins away from needing more LEGOs to build a jewelry box.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. To take an incredible Turner quote completely out of context, “This is amazing… except, what the f*** are we celebrating?” There’s a lot of work left to be done, and the Thunder remain heavy betting favorites for a reason.

But if Indiana continues to surprise, don’t be like everyone else. Don’t overlook Myles Turner.