The Indiana Pacers suffered a brutal loss at the hands of the New York Knicks on Friday night. In a playoff rematch, the Pacers lost to the Knicks 123-98. To make matters even worse for Indiana, this was the Knicks' home opener and was nationally televised.
Despite the blowout loss, not all was bad for the Pacers. Bennedict Mathurin scored 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field, Jarace Walker looked solid in his time on the court, and rookie Johnny Furphy made his NBA debut, though went 0-for-3 from the field and did not record anything else.
Regardless of the silver linings, there was a lot more bad than good. Here are some of the biggest duds of the Pacers' loss to New York.
1. Tyrese Haliburton's 0-point performance
Haliburton is the best player on the Pacers and is the face of the franchise. When things go well for the team, it is usually because of Haliburton's play. However, being the franchise player means you have to take the good and the bad, and there was certainly a lot of bad in Haliburton's game against the Knicks.
For just the third time in his career (and the first time since March 1, 2024), Haliburton finished the game scoreless. The Wisconsin native shot 0-for-8 from the field, including a 0-for-7 mark from beyond the arc, and failed to score a single point. He did record five assists, a rebound, and a steal, but that does not negate his incredibly inefficient shooting performance.
This is even more concerning given that he also shot 1-for-9 from the three-point line in Indiana's season opener, making him 1-for-16 from deep through two games of the season. It is a small sample size, but that does not make it any less upsetting for Pacers fans.
2. Andrew Nembhard's inability to step up
Nembhard had a breakout campaign in 2023-24, culminating in him landing a three-year, $58.7 million contract extension. Next to Haliburton, the two make up an incredible offensive duo. However, a major positive to having Nembhard in the backcourt is for him to be able to pick up any of Haliburton's slack and vice-versa. This did not happen on Friday night.
In 21 minutes of play, Nembhard scored just two points on 1-for-3 shooting. Additionally, though he also recorded two rebounds, two assists, and two steals, he also committed three turnovers.
When Haliburton has as bad of a performance as he did against the Knicks, Nembhard should be next in line to pick up for his backcourt partner. Though it was not as technically bad of a performance as Haliburton's, the Canadian native still left a lot to be desired on the court.
3. Three-point shooting
This is a no-brainer. The Pacers, who shot 37.4% from the three-point line last season, went 3-for-30 (10%) against the Knicks. Mathurin shot 2-for-5 from deep and Walker went 1-for-4. Indiana's starting lineup shot 0-for-17 from behind the line, and nobody besides Mathurin and Walker connected on a three-point field goal attempt.
For a team as fast-paced as the Pacers are on offense, this type of shooting performance is unacceptable. Granted, it is extremely unlikely they will shoot this poorly in another game this season, but it is disappointing nonetheless that it happened to begin with.
4. Defense
The Pacers' defense being a weak point is not a surprise. However, the extent of how bad their defense was against the Knicks is still noteworthy.
Indiana gave up 123 points to New York and allowed four of their five starters to score at least 20 points. Furthermore, everybody in the Knicks' starting lineup shot at least 50% from the field (besides Karl-Anthony Towns, who shot 45%). And if it weren't for Cam Payne's 3-for-9 shooting performance off the bench, the Knicks would have shot a lot higher than 52% from the field.
The Knicks are a great team, but they should not be this much better than the Pacers are. Luckily for Indiana, it is just one game, but it is crucial for them to turn things around sooner rather than later.