The Indiana Pacers ran into a wall on Friday night, and the Dallas Mavericks never let them back up. What started as a rough night quickly became a lopsided one, with Indiana falling 121-105 after Dallas seized control early and kept piling it on.
By the end of the first quarter, the Mavericks were already ahead 44-27. Things only snowballed from there. Dallas carried a 77-43 lead into halftime, leaving the Pacers stuck trying to dig out of a hole that was already far too deep.
Kyrie Irving led the way for Dallas with 24 points, hitting 8 of 15 shots and going 5-for-10 from three-point range. PJ Washington gave the Mavericks a strong all-around night as well, finishing with 20 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks while shooting 6-for-11 from the field and 2-for-4 from deep. Cooper Flagg was highly productive in limited time before leaving with a left shoulder injury, putting up 14 points, five rebounds, six assists and three steals in just 17 minutes while making 4 of 6 shots and both of his threes.
Dallas was sharp throughout, finishing at 51 percent from the floor and 41 percent from beyond the arc. Indiana never found the defensive answers to slow that pace, and the Pacers’ own mistakes made the margin even wider.
The turnover battle was a major problem. Indiana gave the ball away 19 times, and Dallas turned those miscues into easy looks.
Tyrese Haliburton did what he could for the Pacers, posting 18 points, six rebounds, seven assists, a steal and two blocks while shooting 8-for-17 from the field. He missed all four of his three-point attempts, but the issue wasn’t one player carrying too little load - Indiana needed more from the group as a whole.
Pascal Siakam turned in one of the better Pacers performances of the night, scoring 23 points with three rebounds and three assists on 8-for-13 shooting, including 3-for-5 from three. Even so, he also committed five turnovers.
Andrew Nembhard added 16 points, Obi Toppin scored 13, and Ivica Zubac chipped in nine points and 11 rebounds. But Kelly Oubre Jr. had a rough night in a game where Indiana needed offense wherever it could find it, finishing with just three points on 1-for-10 shooting from the floor and 1-for-6 from three.
Through two games, Oubre is averaging 3.5 points, two rebounds, 2.5 assists and a steal per game while shooting 20 percent from the field and 11.1 percent from three-point range. The Pacers will need more from him offensively, especially with the athleticism and scoring touch he brings on paper.
In Other News...
Pacers Home Opener Turned Ugly After Aaron Nesmith Set Off Chaos
Tyrese Haliburtons first home game back at Gainbridge Fieldhouse after returning from his Achilles injury had the kind of energy Indiana expected, with the Pacers welcoming the Dallas Mavericks in a spot that should have been about celebration and a fresh start. Instead, the mood shifted in a hurry when Aaron Nesmith delivered a hard foul on Cooper Flagg, turning a normal early-season atmosphere into something far more tense.
Flagg hurt his left shoulder on the play and was ruled out for the rest of the game, and the officials responded by issuing technical fouls to both Nesmith and Naji Marshall in the aftermath. For a night that was supposed to center on Haliburtons return and the buildings first look at him at home, the Pacers quickly found themselves dealing with the kind of chaos no one in the arena wanted to see. [Read more 🡒]
Pacers Suddenly Face Heat Over One Hard Foul On Cooper Flagg
A hard foul by Aaron Nesmith on Cooper Flagg turned into one of the sharper talking points from the Pacers game against the Mavericks, especially after Flagg came away with a left shoulder injury and did not return because of soreness. Nesmith was assessed a flagrant one on the play, and even in a game Indiana ultimately lost, the moment quickly became the kind of sequence that travels far beyond the box score.
For the Pacers, the fallout was less about the result and more about the optics of a play that drew immediate criticism on social media. Hard fouls happen, but this one left Flagg hurt, gave Dallas a tangible edge in the moment and put Nesmith squarely in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. [Read more 🡒]
Tyrese Haliburton Knows The Pacers Have An Early Problem
The first two games of the season have left the Pacers with an uncomfortable pattern, and Tyrese Haliburton did not shy away from it. Indiana has fallen behind by double digits at halftime both times out, a start that has pointed to problems at both ends of the floor and put the team in an early hole before it can settle in.
Haliburton and coach Rick Carlisle have both taken aim at the slow openings, with the message centered on sharper effort and more accountability from the starting group. The Pacers now head into their next matchup against the Brooklyn Nets looking for a cleaner beginning, because these early lapses are making every game harder than it needs to be. [Read more 🡒]