3 Main reasons why Indiana Pacers lost to lowly Portland Trail Blazers

Following two days of rest after a spectacular takeover win against the Detroit Pistons on Friday, Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers welcomed the struggling Portland Trail Blazers to town. Before this matchup, the Blazers were near the bottom of the West at 4-12.

The expectations for this game were that Indiana would welcome Portland to Gainsbridge Fieldhouse and use their top-ranked offense to overpower the Blazers en route to an easy win.

This, unfortunately, was not the case, as the Pacers went into the fourth quarter tied 83 apiece. Unfortunately, lights-out shooting in the fourth quarter and 17 points from Jerami Grant were too much for the Pacers to handle, and they eventually lost embarrassingly.

This game was the quintessential Pacers loss and showcased every reason why they are not a serious playoff contender yet.

From the opening bell, the Pacers decided to play like they had the day off and completely disregarded Portland as an opponent, leading to their carelessness coming back to bite them as Grant and company torched them in the fourth quarter en route to a 110-114 win.

So far, every Pacers loss has showcased a scary pattern, and Monday's loss was no different. The Pacers have had the same issues plague them since the start of the season and have done little to nothing to rectify them, even going back on clear progress from the past Detroit game. Overall, there were three reasons for the Pacers' loss, one being new and the other two being recurring trends.