Pacers “Fall-Back” to .500 after wild loss to Charlotte
By TYLER SMITH (@TylerSmith_ISL)
ISL Editor
INDIANAPOLIS — After a thrilling win on Friday night, the Pacers found themselves on the other end of a thriller on Saturday. The Charlotte Hornets went 23-for-23 from the foul line, and needed every last one of them- defeating the Pacers 125-124 on a wild night in Indy.
Tyrese Haliburton didn’t score in the first quarter, and still put together a career night with 43 points (tying a career-high), and 12 assists. His third quarter was historic, as the Pacers star put up 25 points and six assists in the third quarter alone. Despite all of that, Haliburton had two key turnovers in the closing seconds, leading to Charlotte’s victory escape.
“I’m just mad,” a dejected Haliburton said after the game. “I don’t want to lose. I think everybody’s angry. I got hot in the third, but just wanted to play better in the fourth, for sure.”
It’s hard to nail down the key moment in this game, because there were a number of them. There were multiple reviews, including the highly questionable sequence where a Brandon Miller lowered shoulder turned into a free-throw for Charlotte.
“I got an explanation, but I was very confused by it,” said Pacers Head Coach Rick Carlisle. “I don’t want to spend $50,000 right now. But that’s not a basketball play. I disagreed with it categorically.”
While the Hornets couldn’t miss from the charity stripe, the Pacers missed some key FT’s down the stretch, including the chance to tie from Buddy Hield.
It’s never easy playing a back-to-back in this league, especially after an emotional game the previous night. But the bottom line is this: If you hit 22 3’s in a game, it has to be a win. The defense simply isn’t good enough currently for this team to get where they want to go. The Pacers were putting on an absolute show in the 3rd quarter, but every time you looked up, the game was still close. The Pacers gave up 74 points in the paint in this game- a recipe for disaster on any night. The difference between 4-2 and 3-3 stings quite a bit for a team hoping to bank some early-season wins.
The Pacers still have three games left on this five-game home-stand. Wemby-mania hits Indianapolis on Monday night, as the Pacers were look to get back over .500.
