The Pacers keep running into the same problem: Andrew Nembhard can hold the line for a while, but he can’t fully replace Tyrese Haliburton.
Indiana has dropped two straight and seven of its last eight, and the offense has felt the strain with Haliburton out and Ivica Zubac just back. The Pacers are trying to survive on depth, but the results have been ugly enough to make the point obvious. They need Haliburton back.
Nembhard has taken on the lead-creator role in Haliburton’s absence, and he’s done what he can. Since Haliburton went down, Nembhard has played in six of the eight games and averaged 8.5 assists. That kind of production shows he’s trying to keep the engine running, but it hasn’t translated into enough wins.
This isn’t a new issue for Indiana, either. The same thing happened last year when the Pacers needed someone to step up while Haliburton was sidelined.
Nembhard gave them effort and steadiness, but the wins never really followed. This season has started to look like a repeat.
Haliburton is dealing with a left hamstring strain after going down at the end of October. He was expected to miss around two weeks, though there was never a firm return date attached to his injury.
Without him, Indiana has stumbled to a 3-8 record. The Pacers were 2-1 with Haliburton healthy, and since then the slide has been hard to ignore. The difference in how the team functions with him on the floor has been clear.
Nembhard has been solid as a secondary guard and secondary creator. The trouble starts when he has to carry the offense as the main ballhandler for long stretches. That’s when the Pacers start to lose steam.
A few of the losses have been close enough to sting even more. Indiana fell by five to the Philadelphia 76ers, with Nembhard posting 18 points and 14 assists.
It lost by four to the Atlanta Hawks, though Nembhard did not play in that one. Then came a three-point loss to the Dallas Mavericks, where he finished with 15 points and 12 assists.
So the Pacers aren’t getting blown off the floor every night. They’ve been hanging around in a lot of these games. But hanging around and finishing are two different things, and Indiana has too often come up just short.
When games tighten up, the Pacers need their best player on the floor to take shots, make shots and create for everyone else. Nembhard has done his part in the meantime, but there’s only so much he can do. Haliburton is the difference.
In Other News...
Rick Carlisle Rips Officiating After Brutal Pacers Loss Without Haliburton
The Pacers had a real chance to steal one from Dallas, even with the Mavericks playing the second night of a back-to-back, but a tight finish turned into another frustrating postgame conversation. Indiana stayed within striking distance deep into the fourth quarter, and the closing sequence left Rick Carlisle focused less on the loss itself than on what he believed should have been a whistle.
Carlisle took aim at the officiating after Pascal Siakam was involved in a late collision he felt clearly warranted a foul call, describing it as a "football caliber collision." The missed call denied Indiana what could have been a final chance to tie the game, and with Tyrese Haliburton already out, the Pacers were left to wonder how different the ending might have been if that one play had gone their way. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Blew Another Winnable Game And The Questions Are Growing
The Pacers had another one in hand for long stretches, only to watch it slip away in the second half as the Mavericks rallied for a 125-122 win and completed the season sweep. Indiana actually did a lot of the little things well, shooting it efficiently and taking care of the ball, but it still could not finish the job against a Dallas team that got big answers from Cooper Flagg and Kyrie Irving when the game tightened.
For a team trying to settle in early this season, the result only adds to the unease around a 3-8 start. The Pacers have shown enough in stretches to suggest they can hang with quality opponents, but the growing issue is what happens once the game turns late and the margin shrinks. Those are the moments that keep turning close, winnable nights into losses, and they are starting to pile up. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Offense Has A Bigger Problem Than Haliburtons Injury
Tyrese Haliburtons injury has naturally drawn the most attention, but the Pacers offensive dip has also exposed a broader issue in how they are creating and finishing possessions. Even with plenty of overall touches, Indianas work in the paint has not been translating into the kind of consistent pressure you would expect from a team built to move the ball and attack quickly.
The bigger concern is that the numbers suggest this is not just about one missing playmaker. Compared with teams such as the Timberwolves and Celtics, the Pacers are spending less time with the ball in the paint relative to their style, which points to a scheme-level problem as much as a personnel one. For Indiana, that makes the challenge more complicated, because fixing it may require more than simply waiting for Haliburton to return. [Read more 🡒]