The Indiana Pacers are seemingly making a habit out of playing well in the first half of their preseason games, only to fall apart down the stretch of the third and fourth quarters before inevitably losing the game by one possession in what would be heartbreaking fashion if the game's mattered.
Saturday night's game against the Milwaukee Bucks was no different. Indiana was outscored by 12 in the third quarter and then three in the fourth to eliminate a 15-point lead that the starters had built in the first half, including a second-quarter explosion in which they scored 42 points in just 12 minutes of game time.
This is a two-sided coin. Either you can celebrate that the starters have been good enough to build such massive leads in minimal playing time, or you can worry about what it means for the Pacers' bench that no one beyond the starting five has proven to have any impact or even any ability to stop the leaking of leads when Indiana has to go to its reserves.
The bench is the only unanswered worry
This was a great game for Indiana's biggest worries. Pascal Siakam, after an extremely rough preseason, finally showed up with 24 points in 21 minutes, going 8/10 from the field and five of seven from three. His plus-23 on/off differential was the highest on the team
However, therein lies the exact problem. If you compare Siakam's plus-minus to that of the three worst performers on the Pacers roster – a three-way tie between center Jay Huff, former first-round pick Ben Sheppard, and recent standout Quenton Jackson at -14, you get a difference of 37 points between the good and the bad for Indiana.
Look, the job of a bench unit is not to be a strength as much as it is to be good enough to maintain what the starters have created. Yes, the best bench units are active contributors who can grow and extend leads, but ultimately the difference for a contender between a bad bench unit and an okay one is far more important than that between a good bench unit and a great one.
The Pacers are currently in a situation in which their bench unit is their biggest weakness. Tyrese Haliburton's health has been proven as best it can in only five games. Evita Ops is clearly fitting in and making the most of the team that is also learning to gel around him. Considering all the difficult questions have slowly found an answer, even if just a tentative one, it is truly scary that the Pacers' bench continues to inspire less confidence by the day.
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