Pacers humbled by Magic, falling behind by as many as 40 in 128-116 defeat
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Pacers suffered their second-worst loss of the season and their worst with Tyrese Haliburton in the lineup, falling 128-116 at the hands of the Orlando Magic on Sunday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The Pacers fell to 7-5. The Magic improved to 8-6.
Here are four observations.
Everything went wrong from the beginning
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle had concerns that the Pacers might come in a little rusty after four days without a game and after an invigorating win over the 76ers on Tuesday put them in the driver's seat of East Group A in the In-Season Tournament. All of his concerns were realized almost immediately.
The Magic opened the game on an 11-0 run as the Pacers failed to score at all in the game's first 3:29 before finally getting on the board with a putback by center Myles Turner. Bennedict Mathurin and Buddy Hield hit 3-pointers that brought the Pacers back within six points at 14-8, but the Pacers never got closer as the deficit snowball got rolling downhill. The Pacers trailed by as many as 23 points in the first quarter when they were outscored 42-21. They made just 7 of 20 field goals in the first quarter and turned the ball over seven times, posting a miserable efficiency figure of 0.73 points per possession while the Magic shot 16 of 25 from the floor, posted 24 points in the paint to the Pacers' eight, turned the ball over just twice and managed 1.56 points per possession.
"It was just a slow start," Haliburton said. "We had a lot of days off. That's not an excuse or anything. We just didn't come out with any energy. I don't know what exactly the reason was. You're going to have games like this that you're going to be dominated start to finish."
The second quarter wasn't much better, as the Magic outscored the Pacers 36-23, making 14 of 26 shots while the Pacers made just 8 of 23. By halftime, the Magic led 78-44 with 1.36 points per possession to the Pacers' 0.75. The Pacers trailed by as many as 40 points in the third quarter, and still lost by 12 even though they outscored the Magic 72-50 in the second half.
"We didn't compete well enough to start," Carlisle said. "Really didn't compete well enough at all throughout the first half. Much better in the second half. When you get down by that many points, it's gonna be tough. We've gotta move on from it."
Magic pound the Pacers in the paint
The Pacers made the strategic decision this offseason to use less help defense and try to maintain 2-on-2 defense on pick-and-rolls to limit 3-pointers, hoping to force more contested 2s and live with some points in the paint. But opponents have exploited that by scoring more points in the paint than any other team surrenders and the Magic in particular made hay out of getting to the rim on Sunday.
The Magic scored 48 points in the paint in the first half alone and ended up with 66 in the game. They attempted just 20 3-pointers, making seven, but they didn't need many because they were 36 of 57 inside the arc with most of those coming at the rim.
"There were many (buckets at the rim)," Carlisle said. "Some of them were just flat out transition attacks one-on-one taking it at you. Other times we had difficulty when we had to switch. Tough night. Tough night. We obviously have to do a lot better."
Magic forward Paolo Banchero took the most advantage of the Pacers' soft interior defense with 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting. Guard Jalen Suggs scored 18 points on 6 of 8 shooting with a lot of those going to the rim. Wing Franz Wagner scored 19 and his brother, big man Moritz Wagner, scored 16 points on 6 of 10 shooting.
Haliburton's turnover-less streak ends
Tyrese Haliburton's play in Philadelphia in the Pacers' two-game series with the 76ers was so sensational that national media members started talking about him as a darkhorse MVP candidate. His 32 assists in those two games were the most in two consecutive games by a player who also had zero turnovers. He posted 58 points on 20 of 32 shooting in those two games, and the 58-point, 32-assist, zero-turnover line over two games had never previously been accomplished.
But in Sunday's first half, he very much came back to Earth with three turnovers against just two assists, and he scored just two points on 0 of 7 shooting. The Magic defense, which had the top defensive rating in the NBA coming into the game, had a lot to do with that as they clogged up his driving lanes, contested his 3s and got hands in his passing lanes to generally make him miserable.
"I thought they did a good job of showing bodies," Haliburton said. "Kind of forcing me to kick. Usually, I play off a lot of angles. They did a good job of showing bodies."
Haliburton also noted -- without explicitly saying it so as to avoid a fine -- that he didn't get the whistle going his way.
"I think there was a lot of contact at the rim tonight, but I shot three free throws," Haliburton said. "Yeah, rough night for sure."
Haliburton found some success in the second half with 10 points including eight in the third quarter's first 90 seconds, but he didn't play at all in the fourth with the game out of reach and finished with 14 points on 4 of 14 shooting and three assists against four turnovers. Haliburton posted a plus-minus figure of +19 in the Pacers' win over Philadelphia on Tuesday. On Sunday, he was -30.
Jordan Nwora, Jarace Walker impressive in garbage time
The blowout defeat gave Pacers coach Rick Carlisle the opportunity to empty the bench early and get minutes for players whose action this season has been little and far between.
The bench responded by turning a game that was completely uncompetitive for the first 30 minutes into a more respectable final score. The Pacers outscored the Sixers 72-50 in the second half and 38-21 in the fourth quarter thanks in large part to what could be considered Indiana's third unit. On a night when three of the Pacers' starters posted plus-minus figures of -20 or worse, rookies Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker, forward Jordan Nwora and center Isaiah Jackson all posted figures of +15 or better.
"I thought they played with great energy," Haliburton said. "They did some really good stuff. They were picking up full court, playing with a good energy, energy that we needed all night from our first group and second group that we didn't have tonight. I thought they did a great job of bringing that. They were really good down the stretch there and made the game look decent."
Forward Jordan Nwora showed that he is still a potent scorer despite how little he has been used. He actually led the Pacers in scoring with 19 points on 8 of 11 shooting, including 2 of 5 from 3-point range. He also had five rebounds, an assist and two steals.
"He's a bucket," Jackson said. "I've been seeing him all through practice. I've been on his team. He goes I was telling him, 'Just go in there and do your thing.' He did tonight. He hooped. That's what he came came here to do. He's handling himself really well in his situation."
Rookie Jarace Walker also had some good moments. The No. 8 overall pick had appeared in just three games before Sunday, but he played 14 minutes on Sunday and scored seven points on 3 of 6 shooting and also recorded an assist, a steal and a block.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Magic: Pacers fall behind by as many as 40 in loss.
