Despite a career night from Tyrese Haliburton who had 43 points and 12 assists, the Indiana Pacers were unable to get the win against the Charlotte Hornets after falling behind by 13 in the first half as they lost by a final score of 125-124.
“We gave ourselves a chance, but ultimately there were too many little things that happened along the way,” Carlisle on coming up short in their late rally to end the game.
In a 1-point loss, there are always so many plays that could have been the one that made the difference and in the case of this game that feels especially true. So many things went wrong in crucial moments, some out of the Pacers control and some unforced errors that left everyone scratching their head. The Hornets gave the Pacers every opportunity to take this game from them but in the end they kept giving it back.
Instead of diving in on grades first, let’s look at each individual thing that could have been the difference in a 1-point game. We’ll start from the end and work our way backwards in true Pacers Recap palindrome fashion:
1) Tyrese Haliburton couldn’t get a shot off in the game’s final possession.
The play-by-play just looks like something is missing. The Pacers got a rebound with 16 seconds left in the game and then the next thing included is end of the 4th quarter.
Haliburton got a switch that he probably wanted with LaMelo Ball guarding him but he seemed to wait a little too long to attack. It never felt like he was quite sure what he wanted to do in the moment.
“I think the first crossover hit my leg and he did a good job and stayed in front,” a dejected Haliburton said after the game. “Kudos to him. He made a hell of a play.”
Ball knocked the ball away with only a couple seconds left and clinched the game. He wasn’t credited with a steal since he never gained possession before the buzzer but he got the win.
With how incredibly hot Haliburton was from the field in this game, it has to be something that may be keeping him up at night to not even give himself a chance to add another game winner to his Pacers tenure.
2) Haliburton’s bad in-bounds pass is eventually stolen by the Hornets.
The turnover before that will be overshadowed by the final play of the game but this was a major unforced error at a critical moment. Pacers ball with 28 seconds remaining and the ball seemed to slip out of Haliburton’s hands as he tried to pass it to Myles Turner who was open in the near corner. Instead the ball bounced around and was recovered by the Hornets as both teams tried to gather it for a bizarre 5-second stretch.
The Pacers got bailed out on the next play as PJ Washington oddly decided to go up for a quick layup with the shot clock off and the Hornets having the lead. Buddy Hield made a great play to block it and knock the ball off of Washington to give the Pacers the ball back on the doomed final possession.
3. Buddy Hield gets the and-1 basket on a drive but misses the free throw with 29.1 seconds left.
Hield, who finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks, came up with another big play just prior to the block when he drove right around Gordon Hayward and finished through the charge attempt by Brandon Miller. The play was reviewed and upheld as a blocking foul but Hield, a career 85.6% foul shooter, missed the attempt. He hadn’t taken a free throw all season before that moment. Myles Turner managed to knock the ball off of the Hornets to retain possession for the Pacers.
4. Myles Turner bad pass turnover with 45 seconds remaining.
Down by 3 on the previous Pacers possession, Turner tried passing the ball from the corner far out to the top of the key to Haliburton but threw it directly to Ball who was nearly face guarding the Pacers star way beyond the 3-point line. He immediately threw his hands on his head as soon as he let it go. Somehow the Pacers saved themselves from this by forcing a Washington turn over on a play where the ball seemed to hit Nesmith and Washington both multiple times on its path out of bounds. Carlisle won his second challenge of the game to get the ball back to Indiana. Turner, who had 14 points and 6 rebounds, had a few bizarre turnovers in this one and finished with 4. Some due to bad hands and another on a charge but this one was especially rough.
5. With 1:49 left, Aaron Nesmith misses one of two free throws with a chance to tie the game.
More of Nesmith later but the Pacers got away with a handful of free throw misses in their previous game but not in this one. This miss and the Hield one standout in the final two minutes as their opponent made all 23 of their attempts from the line.
6. Aaron Nesmith called for a technical foul after reacting to being drilled by Brandon Miller, who was only called for a common foul
With 5:24 left and the Pacers down 7, Brandon Miller absolutely decked Nesmith who was setting a screen on an off-the-ball play. He led with his elbow and it looked more like a defensive lineman trying to stop a running play than anything you would see in basketball. Nesmith, understandably, reacted strongly. After a review, the referees ruled for a second time on the night that a Hornets foul was not flagrant but just a common foul. Carlisle did not like the call.
“I disagree with the call categorically,” Carlisle said after the game. “I don’t want to pay $50,000 for it right now … but that was not a basketball play.”
It was a bizarre call that instead of giving the Pacers two free-throws and the ball, gave the Hornets another point. In the end, this may have been a net boost for the Pacers as they seemed to play with a lot of attitude through the rest of the game but that one point they got as a direct result of Miller’s tackle was obviously key.
All the rest of the small things:
- Paint points. The Hornets lived in the paint (74 points) and got a lot of those points off of offensive rebounds (12) and scores. One late in the fourth with 3:50 left where Nesmith forced a Gordon Hayward miss but tipped a rebound instead of corralling it. Instead it went to Mark Williams (27 points and 7 rebounds) who ended up getting an and-one on the play. Both Carlisle and Hield highlighted that as a problem area from this game.
- The bench was bad. The Pacers depth has been a real plus on the season for them but they really struggled in this one. In the first half especially as TJ McConnell got his first minutes in with Haliburton healthy in a bit but in just five minutes the Pacers were outscored by 9 with him out there. Everyone on the bench was a negative with plus/minus.
- The Pacers scored 50 points in the third quarter but the defense let the Hornets hang around by giving up 38. The Pacers could never put together any huge strings of stops to ever really get a big lead on Charlotte as they continued to hang around despite Haliburton lighting them on fire on the other end of the court. While they went from down 8 at halftime to up 4 entering the fourth, you’d expect a bigger swing than that after putting up 50 points in 12 minutes.
- The Pacers started off ice cold from the field. They made just 4 of 20 3-pointers in the first half and only 33% of their shots overall. Hield and Haliburton both thought they had good looks but they just weren’t dropping early. Behind Haliburton they turned that around in the second half but one or two more in the first half would have been huge. In the third quarter, the Pacers make their first seven 3s and 10 total in the quarter. They couldn’t miss but couldn’t find a stop either.
- There was another flagrant review that was questionable earlier in the game where Mark Williams reached for a block that he was nowhere close to getting and hit Haliburton directly in the face, giving him a bloody nose. The ref called the play “unfortunate contact” but did not rule it a flagrant penalty.
Quick grades
- Tyrese Haliburton: A-. He has everything but the finish tonight. Just an unbelievable performance that he called just “the law of averages” catching up with him in a good way after he had missed a lot of 3-pointers to start the season. He was incredible as he scored 32 points in a 14-minute span from the end of the first half to the end of the third quarter that took the Pacers from down by 13 to up by four.
- Myles Turner: C-. Turner’s turnovers were rough in this one. Never seemed to be in rhythm in the first half including a stretch where he got a shot blocked, had a turnover, and got called for a charge on three consecutive possessions in the second quarter. His inconsistent hands have popped up as problems in each of the last two games.
- Obi Toppin: C+. Toppin started off strong and did a great job of getting early post position against smaller Hornets players but the Pacers quit looking for him on those plays and he didn’t do as much after the first few minutes. He finished with 11 points including a nice lob finish.
- Bruce Brown: B-. Brown only had 7 points but added 6 assists and felt like the main reason that Ball only had 11 points and went 4 for 15 from the floor and had six turnovers.
- Bennedict Mathurin: D+. Another quiet scoring night but Mathurin had his third game of the season already this year with at least 5 assists. He only had two all of last season. He really struggled dealing with Gordon Hayward on defense, who scored 20 in the first half. The Hornets were hunting him in the second half and his defense is keeping him off the floor during crunch time.
- TJ McConnell: F. McConnell looked very rusty. Lost control of his dribble a few times, dribbled around a little aimlessly on one possession for a long time before turning it over. Pacers really needed the energy boost on the second night of a back to back but it wasn’t a good TJ game. Team was outscored by 9 in his 5 minutes.
- Buddy Hield: B+. If it wasn’t for that missed free throw, Hield probably gets an A. He continues to finish games over Mathurin because he can be trusted more on both ends of the court as it stands currently.
- Aaron Nesmith: C. Nesmith didn’t score until after the refs and Miller seemed to fire him up on that aggressive foul from the Hornets rookie. He would quickly hit a 3 and earn a trip to the free throw line. He played great defense down the stretch as well.
- Andrew Nembhard: C. 7 points, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Just an okay performance, he did play better in the fourth quarter, hit a deep three and floater inside but also missed a couple more in the paint that were good shots that the Pacers needed.
- Jalen Smith: B. Stix made a lot of good plays once again on his way to 11 points (4 for 6) and 9 rebounds. I don’t have anything new to say about him. He’s been consistently very good all season so far. He was a team low -13 tonight but it didn’t feel like that was as much on him as a reflection of the bench in general. Both Hornets centers did do plenty of damage against him and Myles tonight.
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