Ian Mahinmi shows his improvement, impact as a starter

In his eighth season, Ian Mahinmi appears to have solidified his role with the Indiana Pacers, reaching his potential as an agile center and revealing his voice inside the team’s locker room.

Mahinmi is not the average NBA veteran. His career to this point has not had the normal trajectory. This season, Mahinmi is averaging career highs in just about every statistic – points (8.3), rebounds (7.0) and field goal percentage (57.9 percent) – as a starter for the first time.

Mahinmi’s improvement continues to impress his teammates as he has become more of a scoring threat in the past two weeks. That was illustrated in Friday’s victory over the Miami Heat, when scored a season-high 18 points and collected a team-high 12 rebounds.

After that game, Mahinmi reflected on his career and the satisfaction of playing well within the bigger role that coach Frank Vogel has given him.

“To finally get to this point feels good,” he said Friday. “I feel I’ve paid my dues. I finally found a place where I’m happy and my teammates are pulling for me.”

Several times this season, Mahinmi has said his teammates have made him a better player. In the past two games, Mahinmi has displayed his footwork, speed and power by finishing at the rim on pick-and-roll plays. He has shot 74.3 percent (26-of-35) in the past six games.

“He sets so many great screens and he rolls to the basket and will be wide open,” Monta Ellis said of Mahinmi on Friday. “I’m always the type of guy that wants to reward my big men for getting me open. When the opportunity presents itself, I always try to get him that bone so he can continue to set those screens.”

When Vogel said the Pacers would play under the new small-ball approach last summer, many wondered how Mahinmi would fit in the offense once Roy Hibbert was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. Paul George said much of the Pacers’ success on offense early in the season is because the system works for Mahinmi as much as it does for the perimeter players.

George knows opposing teams, including the Toronto Raptors, the Pacers’ opponent Monday (7 p.m., FSI), have to be mindful of where Mahinmi is on the court instead of focusing solely on the perimeter.

“He’s the one guy down there occupying the paint and he doesn’t get a lot of credit for how athletic he is at the center position,” George said Friday. “He’s been exploiting matchups. It’s a luxury to have a big man that can move and be versatile.”

Scoring points, though, is not what Mahinmi prides himself on.

His first priority, instead, is to focus on making sure the Pacers are a strong defensive team. In November, Mahinmi anchored one of the top defense teams in the league. Since Dec. 3, the Pacers have been the opposite in allowing at least 118 points in their past four losses.

After Saturday’s blowout loss to the Detroit Pistons, Mahinmi was just as irritated as Vogel. He voiced his frustration by calling for his teammate be tougher, both physically and mentally, on defense despite the team playing in a remodeled spread offense.

“Our numbers were just … ugh,” Mahinmi said after Saturday’s game. “We gave up too many 3s. Sometimes, it’s not so much the defense, but it’s more (about) mental toughness as far as being able to reproduce game after game after game where we’re doing well. I know guys have a lot of pride and I think we’ll bounce back Monday.”

Vogel will be relying on Mahinmi. After Friday’s game, Vogel emphasized that for the Pacers to return to being one of the elite defensive teams in the league, they would need to follow Mahinmi.

“He’s an exceptional defender,” Vogel said. “He can guard the post. He’s one of the best leverage post defenders in the game. He’s can hold guys off, obviously protect the rim in drops and in helps, but also with great speed to get back out to all these teams that are playing with five 3-point shooters out there. It’s a must to have a guy like Ian if you’re going to be a good defensive team.”

Call Star reporter Nate Taylor at (317) 444-6484. Follow him on Twitter: @ByNateTaylor.

MAHINMI'S IMPROVEMENT

Ian Mahinmi's improvement is not just a result of playing more minutes (24.9-18.8). Here are look at his statistics per 36 minutes:

INDIANA vs TORONTO

Tipoff: 7 p.m. Monday, Bankers Life Fieldhouse

TV: FSI

Radio: 1070 AM, 93.5 FM

Pacers (13-9)

Pos;Player;PPG;Key stat

PG; George Hill; 12.4 ppg; 4.2 rpg

SG; Monta Ellis; 12.1 ppg; 4.8 apg

SF; C.J. Miles; 15.4 ppg; 41.3 3pt%

PF; Paul George; 27.0 ppg; 8.0 rpg

C; Ian Mahinmi; 8.3 ppg; 7.0 rpg

6th; Rodney Stuckey; 10.6 ppg; 3.2 rpg



Raptors (15-9)*

PG; Kyle Lowry; 21.6 ppg; 6.3 apg

SG; DeMar DeRozan; 21.7 ppg; 4.2 apg

SF; DeMarre Carroll; 12.2 ppg; 5.1 rpg

PF; Luis Scola; 10.0 ppg; 5.9 rpg

C; Jonas Valanciunas; 12.7 ppg; 9.3 rpg

6th; Cory Joseph; 9.8 ppg; 3.0 apg

* – Toronto stats entering Sunday

RAPTORS HAVE HAD PACERS’ NUMBER: The Toronto Raptors have won the last five consecutive games against the Indiana Pacers. In most of those games, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have played well for Toronto. The Pacers will also see their former teammate Luis Scola, who played in Indiana for two seasons before joining the Raptors this season.

90 COULD BE THE MAGIC NUMBER: How important is the Pacers’ defense to their overall success? Well, the team is 6-0 this season when they hold opponents to under 90 points. That is not going to happen on most nights, of course, but if the Pacers can keep games from being shootouts it does swing the odds of winning in their favor.

HE SAID WHAT?!: “We have to own up to it as a team. There’s a lot of areas we need to get better at. When you get good, easy shots, it gives you confidence. When you’re making it easy on the offensive end, you play defense a lot better.” – George Hill on why the Pacers have to perform better on defense.

PREDICTION: The Toronto Raptors are playing well and have found their stride in the last few weeks. They playing well on defense, something the Pacers are striving for. Raptors 107, Pacers 101.

- Nate Taylor