2 Negatives, 1 positive from Indiana Pacers blowout loss to Orlando Magic

Negative: Indiana's offense shut down by Magic defense

Remember when I said the main battle of this game was Indiana's offense vs Orlando's defense? If it wasn't abundantly clear who won, the answer is Orlando's defense.

The Pacers tried every trick in the bag, but nothing was good enough to overcome the Magic's suffocating contests and fantastic defensive IQ. Every Pacer in the starting lineup, with the exception of Bruce Brown, had a bad game, and the second-leading scorer Bennedict Mathurin only had 14 points on 4/12 shooting.

Tyrese Haliburton had his worst game of the season and possibly of his career, as he went 0/7 in the first half and only had three assists to go along with a staggering four turnovers, only the fifth time in his Pacers career that he had more turnovers than assists.

While Haliburton did turn it around from a scoring standpoint in the second half, going 4/7 and finishing the night with 12 points, there was no denying that this was the worst game he had this season. That's not to say he was the only one, as seven of the 13 players that got playing time shot 40% or under from the field, with three shooting under 30%.

Mathurin continued his renewed slump, shooting 4/12 en route to 14 points, Myles Turner failed to capitalize off his stellar fourth quarter against Philadelphia, shooting 3/10 with 10 points, and Buddy Hield continued his cold streak, shooting 1/4 and only scoring three points.

As you can probably predict, the team struggled as a whole, too, shooting only 26% from three-point range and 44% from the field overall. This number predictably goes down when you isolate the first half, as the Pacers shot an abysmal 35% from the field in a half where Bruce Brown, TJ McConnell, and Jalen Smith were the only players to shoot above 50% from the field.

This offensive performance was so bad in fact, that Indiana dropped from having the league's best offense to the third-best after only one game, with a further drop-off also possible if not for garbage time.

Overall, this game pointed out Indiana's flaws to a T and made it clear what the Pacers need to work on. While the Pacers may be looking good right now with the season still young and the players riding off hot streaks, they don't have much to fall back on when those streaks turn cold and their offense stagnates.

Of course, their defense isn't good, nor is their rebounding, and they're not exactly the tallest team around, so at this point, the Pacers are relying on an unsustainably efficient offense to keep them competitive. Sunday's game showed what could happen if that offense betrays them, and it's definitely something they need to look into before the playoffs come around and it's too late to make any moves.