Pacers lose to lottery-bound Hornets again, 111-102 in Charlotte

CHARLOTTE -- After an impressive win over the Knicks in Madison Square Garden on Saturday, the Pacers faced a much different atmosphere on Monday and didn't seem to bring the same energy, losing 111-102 to the lottery-bound Hornets in the Spectrum Center.

The Pacers fell to 30-25 with their second loss to Charlotte in four games this season and dropped to seventh place in the Eastern Conference. The Hornets improved to 12-41.

Here are four observations.

Pacers' defense falls apart in second half

After a lethargic first half on both sides of the floor ended with the Pacers leading 49-48, the new-look Hornets brought a new level of energy in the second half and the Pacers didn't bring nearly enough to stop it.

Though they're not in any position to make a post-deadline push of any sort, the Hornets got a spark from adding forwards Grant Williams and Davis Bertans and guards Seth Curry, Tre Mann and Vasilije Micic to their rotation, adding new life that a team that was in freefall. They had lost 10 straight games prior to Saturday's game at Memphis when the new additions acquired on Thursday actually arrived, but now they've won two straight and the play of the new additions was a clear reason why.

Williams scored 21 points, Curry had 18, and Mann had 11 to help spearhead the win for the Hornets. Curry scored 14 and Williams had 10 the second half in which the Hornets outscored the Pacers 63-53 to take control. The Hornets shot 26 of 40 from the floor (65.0%) after the break, posting 1.30 points per possession in the third period and 1.25 points per possession in the fourth.

The Hornets scored 36 points in the paint in the second half and 56 in the point for the game and won on the glass 46-32 for the game.

"We didn't play with the kind of urgency from start to finish that we needed to have," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "We talked a lot about their trades and how they played two nights ago. They're a team that's energized. We needed to match that and we didn't."

Myles Turner had his way early, but went quiet

Just as they did Saturday night against the Knicks, the Pacers identified an advantage in the middle and got the ball to Myles Turner as much as possible. He scored the Pacers' first 11 points and 13 of their first 17. he slowed down a little after that but still finished the first half with 15 on 5 of 9 shooting, including 1 of 4 from 3-point range.

In the second half, Turner found points harder to come by, but he still finished with 22 on 8 of 13 shooting. The fact that the Pacers couldn't continue to take advantage of his matchup factored in to what Carlisle called an "uneven" performance. They shot 50.6% from the floor, but were 8 of 30 from 3-point range and finished with just 1.03 points per performance.

"We had some good opportunities that we missed," Carlisle said. "We didn't have a high turnover number, but we had a lot of wasted possessions that resulted in a bad shot or a shot that got blocked."

Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard bring energy on a quiet night

The Hornets recent moves have effused them with some energy in the middle of a lottery-bound season, but tickets were still easy to come by at the Spectrum Center on Monday night, and the place got downright quiet during some stretches. The energy in the building wasn't great and it seemed to create a sense of lethargy for both teams, perhaps the Pacers especially, after they got a win over the Knicks in Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

The Pacers did drive energy from two of their most consistent energy players and two of their top defenders, however. Forward Aaron Nesmith and Andrew Nembhard brought it on both ends on a night when a number of players clearly did not and they helped keep the Pacers at least somewhat locked in, though they eventually faded dramatically down the stretch.

"That's why they're starting is because those guys always give effort unconditionally," Carlisle said. "A lot of guys tried, but we just weren't good enough."

Nembhard scored 10 points on 5 of x shooting and added seven assists and three steals and played some of the toughest on-ball defense of anyone on the squad. Nesmith scored 21 points on 8 of 13 shooting, grabbed three rebounds and had the highlight play of the night, dunking hard on Hornets forward Nick Richards. He was hoping that was going to create momentum and a spark, but the Hornets scored on the ensuing possession and Richards blocked an attempted jam by Isaiah Jackson to stem any hope of a rally.

"Plays like that are momentum plays," Nesmith said. "Unfortunately it didn't carry us through. But I dunked it out of necessity because he's a good shot blocker and if I hadn't have dunked it he would've sent it into the third row."

Doug McDermott struggles from outside

After his second game in his second stint with the Pacers, Doug McDermott is still looking for his first points.

The veteran wing had four relatively clean looks from 3-point range in the second half and each of them looked pretty good coming off of his hand, but he missed all four with three of them touching seemingly every inch of the rim before they rimmed out. In 15 minutes, he's 0 of 5.

McDermott did have some decent moments on the defensive end, but the Pacers seemed to stall while he was in the game. He finished with a -12 plus-minus figure in eight minutes.

Pacers box score vs. Hornets

INDIANA (102): Nesmith 8-13 4-7 21, Siakam 8-12 1-2 18, Turner 8-13 5-5 22, Haliburton 5-15 0-0 13, Nembhard 5-7 0-0 10, Jackson 2-3 0-2 4, McDermott 0-4 0-0 0, Toppin 2-5 0-0 6, Mathurin 0-4 0-0 0, McConnell 4-7 0-0 8, Sheppard 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 42-83 10-16 102.

CHARLOTTE (111): Bridges 9-17 1-1 20, Miller 4-8 2-2 12, Richards 6-6 1-3 13, Mann 5-11 0-0 11, Martin 5-8 0-0 11, Bertans 1-6 0-0 3, G.Williams 6-12 7-8 21, Curry 7-11 2-2 18, Micic 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 44-82 13-16 111.

3-Point Goals—Indiana 8-30 (Haliburton 3-8, Toppin 2-4, Siakam 1-3, Nesmith 1-4, Turner 1-5, Mathurin 0-1, Nembhard 0-1, McDermott 0-4), Charlotte 10-34 (Curry 2-5, Miller 2-5, G.Williams 2-6, Martin 1-2, Mann 1-3, Bertans 1-6, Bridges 1-6, Micic 0-1). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Indiana 32 (Haliburton 6), Charlotte 46 (Bridges 10). Assists_Indiana 31 (Haliburton 12), Charlotte 27 (Bridges, Mann 7). Total Fouls_Indiana 11, Charlotte 17. A_12,112 (19,077)

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Pacers vs. Hornets: Grant Williams scores 21 to lead Charlotte