10 thoughts on the Pacers horrible showing against the NBA's best defensive team, the Orlando Magic
It was as ugly as you can imagine. The Pacers struggled in every aspect of the game, as Orlando dominated in this one.
After not playing since last Tuesday, the Pacers four days off with no games showed tremendously on Sunday night. Orlando has the best defensive rating in the NBA, and they reminded Indiana why that it is.
The Magic were more physical, they were the aggressor the entire game and they protected the basketball from start to finish.
It was clear after the first half that this game was one to forget, but nonetheless, we must discuss 10-things from this Magic manhandling.
1). A disaster of a first quarter
It was as bad as you could have imagined. Rick Carlisle called three timeouts to try and put a halt to the Orlando Magic’s momentum but to no avail. The length of Orlando disrupted Indiana and they were unable to get clean looks in their halfcourt set. Orlando abused Indiana’s putrid defense by scoring 42 first quarter points, while also dictating the game defensively, holding Indiana to a season low 21 first quarter points.
9 of Orlando’s 10-man rotation was able to score in the first quarter, which shows how focused they were as a team. The Magic also forced 6-steals and had 4-blocks, while the Pacers forced zero. Indiana was doubled up in field goals made, as Orlando shot 16/25 while the Pacers shot just 7/20.
2). The 2nd quarter wasn’t much better
Rick Carlilse tried several different lineup combinations hoping to find some kind of spark to start a fire. However, the Pacers had a harder time finding a spark to start a fire, than Becky and Sundra did in the fire making challenge on Survivor Cook Islands, to determine who would be in the final three. The challenge took them nearly two hours to complete, whereas the Pacers were never able to complete the challenge in over 2-hours of time.
The team shot 8/23 from the field and four of those made baskets came from Bruce Brown who went 4/5 and played the entire quarter. At the end of the half, the Pacers committed 10 more turnovers and 5 more fouls against Orlando, while also being outrebounded by 8. Indiana surrendered 78-points in the first half, the worst of the season.
3). Haliburton’s has MORE turnovers than assists!
Yikes! Tyrese Haliburton proves that he is indeed human tonight and committed more turnovers than he did assists. The last time this happened, according to iPacers on Twitter, was October 31, 2022, against the Brooklyn Nets where he had 7 turnovers and 5 assists.
The last time Tyrese Haliburton had three assists or less was back on April 1, 2022, when he recorded just 2 assists. This is his only game with Indiana where he has recorded less than 3 assists. Obviously, this is not the norm for Haliburton, but it highlights what kind of night it has been.
4). Jordan Nwora plays well despite Indiana’s overall performance
In the 3rd quarter, Jordan Nwora was able to add 9-points for the Pacers on 4/5 shooting from the field. Nwora also finished the quarter with a positive plus-minus, he was a +3.
During the 4th quarter, he added 10-points on 4/6 shooting to finish the game with 19-points on 8/11 shooting. This was the only real bright spot for the Pacers on the offensive side of the ball, but Jordan was able to get into the game in the first half and earn some early minutes in the third.
Here were Rick Carlilse’s thoughts on Jordan Nwora’s game:
“Jordana Nwora, the guys been buried, and he had the chance to play in the first half and he played well.”
5). Jarace Walker plays his first “real” minutes
In Jarace’s second defensive possession he blocked the living crap out of Franz Wagner’s shot attempt. It led to a Pacers fastbreak opportunity, but they failed to convert the basket and Orlando knocked the ball out of bounds. A few offensive possessions later, he airballed a wide open three. The next dead ball, Indiana went to a more veteran lineup to try and stop the bleeding.
Jarace was able to log some minutes in the fourth quarter, where he was a part of a group that played the best in the game. He finished the game with 7-points, a steal, a block and was a +15 for the game.
Coach Carlilse spoke about a conversation he had with Jarace Walker two days ago:
“I don’t know when it’s gonna happen, but your time is coming. That’s just how it works in this league. He did some good things and that’s good to see.”
6). Goga Bitadze vs. Myles Turner
It was good to see a familiar face back in the arena, someone that everyone enjoyed while he was with Indiana, Goga Bitadze. He got drafted to probably the worst situation for himself but was able to find a home in Orlando and earn a role with them. He has been playing as their starting center with Wendal Carter Jr. sidelined and provides Orlando with rim protection.
Saturday at practice, Myles Turner discussed how he was happy for Goga and he was glad he was able to carve out a role with Orlando. He also praised his work ethic and was looking forward to the matchup. Goga finished the game with 8-points, 8-rebounds, 4-blocks, 2-assists and 1-steal. Turner finished the game with 10-points, 4-rebounds, 3-blocks, 3-assists and 1-steal.
7). The Ben-efits of Shepp
When called upon, Shepp was able to find success on both sides of the basketball. He contributed 7-points in the 4th quarter on 50-50-100 shooting splits and defensively, he forced two steals as the Pacers were playing a 3/4 press against to try and cut into the Magic lead. The defensive pressure worked.
Sheppared finished the game with a +25, the best plus-minus of anyone on the team. It says a lot about a player when they can have a +25 in a 12-point loss. He showcased why he can play right now and how he can impact the game as more than just a movement shooter.
Here were Coach Carlilse’s thoughts on Ben Sheppard’s play tonight:
“Sheppard did some good things. He’s hard not to like with the way he moves it and the way he defends.”
8). Jalen Smith’s postgame comments summed up the Pacers game the best
In a tough loss like this, players don’t enjoy speaking to the media, and rightfully so. However, Jalen Smith came to the table and spoke with professionalism when discussing what the Pacers did wrong in this game. I felt like Jalen’s quite best summed up the Pacers efforts:
“We took punches and didn’t throw any back…Overall, from a whole team aspect we were terrible. It’s never fun being blown out in the NBA. At the end of the day this is game 12. We got like 70 more games left. We’re gonna have games like this throughout the year but it’s all about how you bounce back.”
9). Poor shooting performance from outside the arc results in another loss.
The Pacers had just 8 made three-pointers (25.8% shooting) in this game and 3 of them came in the fourth quarter. In their 50-point loss to the Celtics they made just 5 on 13.5% shooting, and they shot 26.1% against the Bulls were they only made 12.
When Indiana struggles to hit at a consistent rate from outside throughout the entirety of a game, it usually results in a loss. Orlando eliminated three-point scoring from Indiana in this game and made them be a team that scores more at the foul line and at the rim. Indiana doesn’t mind scoring that way throughout the game, but they rely on their outside shooting to open the paint more for additional opportunities.
10). Pacers have overcome tough losses with victories the next game this season
Believe it or not, the Pacers have only lost multiple games in a row once this season. They started out the year 2-0 after defeating Washington and Cleveland, then lost to Chicago at home and Boston on the road after that.
Since then, they have been able to overcome tough losses and respond in convincing fashion. After losing by 50+ to the Celtics, they defeated the Cavaliers in the first ever In-Season Tournament game.
Then after that win, they lost by 1 to the Charlotte Hornets, where Tyrese matched his career high of 43-points, (which he originally scored against the Mimai Heat in 2022) and dribbled the ball off his leg with LaMelo Ball defending as time expired.
After the heartbreaking loss to Charlotte, Indiana was able to defeat the Spurs by 41-points the next game and went on a 3-game winning streak defeating San Antonio, Utah and Milwaukee.
The Pacers’ winning streak was halted as the 76ers continued on their own winning streak, getting their 8th game in a row, defeating Indiana 137-126. That didn’t bother the Pacers though, because once again, they responded beating the 76ers 132-126 in their second In-Season Tournament game.
Coincidence or not, two of the Pacers tough losses were followed by an In-Season Tournament game, which ended up as a win for the Pacers. They have a chance to continue that trend with a victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night, where they face them in game 3 of the In-Season Tournament. If they win that game, they will win their pool and advance to the next round.