The Indiana Pacers keep running into the same wall, and the early record says it plainly: 3-8 and 11th in the Eastern Conference.
That kind of start has drained plenty of the optimism that surrounded the offseason. After last season’s 19-63 finish, this was supposed to look different. Instead, the frustration is back fast, and the reasons for it keep piling up in the same three areas: no Tyrese Haliburton, poor rebounding and shaky three-point shooting.
The Haliburton piece is the most obvious. Indiana is 1-6 since he went out with a hamstring injury, and the lone win came on the road against an unproven Memphis Grizzlies team. It was a needed result in the moment, but it didn’t turn into anything bigger.
What keeps showing up with this team is the same old pattern: every loss comes with a “but if.” Dallas blew them out at home, but if they had played the first half like the second.
The Bucks got their only win of the year, but if Indiana hadn’t run out of gas on the third game in four nights. Philadelphia was a close one, but if Haliburton and Zubac were healthy.
Miami beat them by 20, but if Klay Thompson hadn’t hit seven threes. Brooklyn picked up its only win of the season on Indiana’s floor, but if the Pacers had made more shots.
Atlanta got them, but if it wasn’t the second night of a back-to-back. Denver outlasted them in Mexico City, but if they had more than seven free throw attempts.
Dallas’ size was too much, but if they hadn’t been outrebounded 43-27 and had made open shots.
That’s the story of the start. There’s always a reason attached to the loss, but the bigger truth is harder to ignore: this roster was not built to survive without Haliburton.
That puts the front office in a tough spot. Injuries elsewhere during his absence matter, sure, but even at full strength without their franchise point guard, the Pacers do not look like a play-in team.
The roster construction has to be rethought with the understanding that Haliburton is likely to miss games during the season. Banking everything on him is a risky way to operate, especially with his injury history.
It also loads too much onto one player. When Haliburton is out, the team’s chances drop sharply, and everyone around the organization knows it.
That kind of setup puts enormous pressure on him every night. If he goes down, the team’s hopes can go with him.
The Pacers need a roster that can win because of Haliburton, not one that can only win with him.
The rebounding numbers tell another ugly part of the story. Indiana is tied for 27th in total rebounds and just had one of its worst nights on the glass in Dallas, finishing with only 27 rebounds.
The Pacers are dead last in contested rebounds, offensive rebounds and offensive rebound chances, and that lack of work on the boards has cut into second-chance points. They are also last in second chance points at 10.4 per game.
There are signs that could improve, especially once Zubac is able to play more than approximately 20 minutes per game. He still leads the team with 7.7 rebounds per game.
Toppin, Walker and Haliburton are all posting career-high rebounding numbers, but the group needs more from everyone else. Zubac’s gravity should create cleaner lanes to attack the glass, and Indiana needs that effort on both ends.
Then there’s the shooting, which has been just as damaging. According to Basketball Refernce, the league average from three-point range this season is 36%. Only four Pacers are above that mark, and two of them are Ben Sheppard, who has played one game and went 1-2, and Tyrese Haliburton, who has played in just four games and is shooting 37%.
That leaves Andrew Nembhard and Larry Nance Jr. as the only Pacers shooting better than league average through the first 11 games. For a team that leans so heavily on threes, that is a brutal number.
Obi Toppin is just under the league average at 35.9%. Pascal Siakam is at 35.4%, and Quenton Jackson is at 35.3%. Everyone else is sitting around 32% or worse: Aaron Nesmith at 32.1%, Jarace Walker at 31%, Jay Huff at 28.6%, Braden Smith at 28.6%, Kobe Brown at 25%, Kelly Oubre Jr. at 24.2% and Jalen Slawson at 20%.
Indiana’s offense is built around creating open looks and burying them, and that has not been happening enough. If even a few of those below-average shooters nudged their numbers up, the record might look different. But the players Indiana depends on most have not been making enough shots, and that has shown up in the low-scoring nights.
Getting Haliburton back will help the Pacers create better looks and should lift the team’s overall three-point percentage. But the larger issue remains the same: this group has to find a way to be less dependent on him if it wants to turn the season around.
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 🡒]