Wow! The Indiana Pacers can't seem to put it together long enough to gather wins in a streak. On Sunday, Indiana lost 113-109 against the Charlotte Hornets.
With this latest blunder at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the Pacers are now 7-4 at home as LaMelo Ball's team won for just the second time on the road this season. Their star player sat out and the Hornets still scrapped for a four-point win over last season's Eastern Conference runner-up.
Many players struggled for Indiana in this one. All starters scored between nine and eleven points. In fact, the top two scorers for head coach Rick Carlisle's squad were off the bench.
Since his team could only put together 47 points in the second half, the Pacers could not work their way back for good after only being down one point at the half.
Now, let's take a look at the players who got stung and the three who swung and hit.
Winner: T.J. McConnell
When the backup point guard scores a career-high, this usually bodes well for their team. Unfortunately, the Pacers could not capitalize on McConnell's 30-point performance off the bench.
Despite not connecting on any of his three attempts from behind the arc, the veteran member of the second unit still went 14-for-16 elsewhere. He also made a pair of free throws.
McConnell played 26 minutes, which was less than four of the five starters for Indiana. He hauled in one rebound and tallied six assists.
The former Philadelphia 76er got it done defensively, too, for his team. McConnell racked up two steals and two blocks on Sunday.
Sadly, the Pacers lost another close game as no other Pacer player scored more than 15 points.
Losers: Indiana's starting five
We could give a free pass to Pascal Siakam here. He was one point shy of another double-double. The veteran power forward snagged 11 rebounds as no other Pacer collected more than four. This includes starting center, Myles Turner.
Turner had just one rebound in the 21 minutes he played. He did score 10 points but also committed four turnovers and four fouls.
Andrew Nembhard was on the court for even longer than Turner. In 31 minutes, the shooting guard scored 10 points and took just five shots. Just like Turner, he also had four turnovers in this game.
Bennedict Mathurin made just one of his seven attempts from behind the arc. When 11 points is the highest total from your starting five, it's astonishing to see how the Pacers only lost by four points on Sunday.
Tyrese Haliburton had a team-high eight assists. However, he only accounted for nine of the Pacers' 109 points against the Hornets.
He only committed two turnovers and did manage to give Charlotte fits as the All-Star point guard recorded three blocks in the game.
No starters for Indiana had a positive plus/minus. That's no way to win any game. Especially against a lesser opponent in the Eastern Conference.
Winner: Jarace Walker
On Sunday, the backup forward for Indiana had himself a productive game. Walker put up 15 points in 20 minutes. He only missed once from the floor in his seven field goal attempts.
Walker has scored ten points or more in five games now this season. Woefully for the Pacers, four of those five games resulted in a loss including Sunday.
He's averaging more than 5.5 points and 3.5 rebounds a game. Walker has range on his shot, too. He has gone four-for-seven in his last two games from deep.
This point is evident for the Pacers' offense: When all five of your starters' combined points are less than 50, it's hard to win games. Yes, McConnell and Walker put up 45 points between the two of them. This showing was not good at all by Indiana. Simply put, they got stung by the Charlotte Hornets. Again.