After a fairly hot start to the season, the Indiana Pacers have been pretty up-and-down. Over the course of their last seven games, they are 3-4 but have gone loss-win-loss-win-loss-win-loss - quite literally up-and-down.
Their most recent loss was particularly disappointing, as they fell 114-110 to the Portland Trail Blazers, who, after trading Damian Lillard away to the Milwaukee Bucks this past offseason, are in full rebuild mode.
Jerami Grant absolutely torched the Pacers, dropping 34 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter alone. Indiana’s defense got absolutely shredded, and their offense left much to be desired, too.
The Pacers’ offense has been great this year, but against Portland, it struggled mightily. Outside of Tyrese Haliburton, of course. That said, Haliburton kept it real after the loss. (H/t Dustin Dopirak of Indy Star)
"This is a bad loss," Haliburton said. "This is a really bad loss for us as a group."
Haliburton finished the night with a team-high 33 points to go along with two rebounds and nine assists. The All-Star point guard shot 11-of-17 from the field and 3-of-6 from beyond the three-point arc.
Unfortunately, the rest of the Pacers’ lineup failed to match Haliburton’s offensive success. Minus Haliburton, Indiana shot just 31-of-71 from the floor (43.7%) and 5-of-27 from distance (18.5%).
As the Pacers look to compete for a playoff spot, losses like this will severely hurt their chances, especially considering they failed to bring home a win at home.
Indiana’s early-season schedule has been dominated by home games, too, so as the year goes on, they will be forced to win more and more games on the road, making their path to the postseason far more treacherous than other squads.
While Haliburton may have lived up to the expectations placed on his shoulders, that’s not what matters. What matters is that the Pacers failed to get the job done against one of the worst teams in the league.
And to make matters worse, their offense was the bigger problem in this game. For a team as talented on the offensive end as Indiana, that should never be the case.
It’s just one game, and the Pacers will certainly have plenty of chances to bounce back, but this loss stings, and they know it.