Indiana Pacers can't have nights like Sunday if they want to reach their goals

The Pacers were crushed by the Magic last night

The Indiana Pacers can't let what happened to them on Sunday night happen again.

They hosted the Orlando Magic, a young, ascending team. To the Magic's credit, they are talented. Armed with a young core that has size and skill, Orlando has the best defensive rating in the NBA so far and enough depth to be a problem for 48 minutes. Their 8-5 record is no joke.

The Pacers, though, were totally unprepared for the action. They were down 6-0 early and had to take a timeout, which led to a run... by the Magic, who started the game up 11-0. After just four and a half minutes, Indiana subbed in reserves in search of energy. At the time, they were down eight.

Six minutes later, they took another timeout down by 17 points. At the time, they had already allowed Orlando to put 30 on the scoreboard, and the Magic have a bottom-10 offense. It was a dismal start for the blue and gold in every way.

"I thought that we didn't get enough stops." Pacers star guard Tyrese Haliburton said of the Pacers start to the game. "The juice from us from the jump wasn't great."

The early timeouts and unique substitutions continued early as head coach Rick Carlisle searched for answers. In came Ben Sheppard, a rookie guard who hasn't played much this year. That didn't help much, and Indiana was down by 25 early in the second frame.

Jarace Walker, a lottery pick, and Jordan Nwora, a patient reserve who has few appearances this year, came in during the second quarter. Neither forward had a bad outing — Nwora was excellent, actually — but neither player could lift the Pacers from their funk. The team was truly awful in the first half. With 1:33 to go in the second quarter, Paolo Banchero rose into an easy jumper from the right wing to put the Magic up by 38.

At that moment, Indiana had 38 points total. They were being doubled up by the Magic on their home floor, and they were down 34 at halftime. Fans were booing. The Pacers were playing terribly.

"Really didn't compete well enough at all throughout the first half," Carlisle said postgame. "We were very, very poor in the first half."

The Magic were physical, something the Pacers talked about on Saturday. They expected it. Orlando is huge and has more size than Indiana, which is part of why their defense is so tough.

Despite knowing what they were up against on Sunday, the Pacers didn't look ready for it. They played a woeful 24 minutes to open the game and stood no chance of winning. They were embarrassed.

"It's never fun being blown out," reserve big man Jalen Smith said. "You're going to have games like this throughout the year. At the end of the day, it's all about how you bounce back."

The blue and gold hit a nadir at the 3:30 mark of the third quarter. Magic guard Cole Anthony drove past a poor closeout from Bennedict Mathurin, skated past poor help defense from Nwora, and then drew a foul on Smith (who had to rotate over and cover for the mistakes of others). Anthony hit a layup and ensuing foul shot, growing his team's lead to 40 with 15:30 left in the game.

To Indiana's credit, they dominated the rest of the action. Nwora was tremendous on offense in this game, finishing with 19 points on 8/11 shooting. Walker and Sheppard both showed signs of growth. Isaiah Jackson was great on both ends. In the end, the Pacers only lost by 12.

But the game was over before halftime. The Pacers were humiliated in front of a sellout crowd to fall to 7-5.

"I have no clue," Jackson said when asked where the Pacers' energy was. "We've got a lot to work on," he added, noting that the team needs to keep their identity. To his credit, Jackson had energy all night.

The Pacers lost their identity in this game — they were outscored on fastbreaks and couldn't get anything going on offense. They didn't look like themselves, and they can't blame anybody else. It was a putrid outing, and one that they need to both learn from and move on from.

One could argue that it was the team's worst performance of the season. By scoring margin, it was their second-biggest loss, and the 12-point margin does not reflect the game's flow at all. After 32.5 minutes, Orlando led by 40. That's a butt-kicking.

Indiana lost by more points in Boston, getting crushed by 51. But Haliburton didn't play in that game, and the Celtics had a historic offensive night. It isn't hard to make the argument that the Pacers outing against the Magic was worse, especially considering the quality of the opponent. Boston is better than Orlando, even if the Magic are good.

The Pacers can't be the team they want to be — a postseason squad — while having games like that. Every team has some crummy nights over the course of a season. Shots don't always fall. But competitive teams don't have games where they look listless and uninterested in playing. That can't happen for the Pacers, who are trying to take a step forward this season.

There are three teams, maybe four, in the NBA that have no path to the playoffs this year. Everyone else, according to their actions and words, wants to reach the postseason. There are no easy games in the association this year. The margins for winning consistently are too thin.

That makes effort more important, and the Pacers have it on Sunday night. They can't afford to have that happen again. They'll try to prove it was a fluke on Tuesday night in Atlanta against the Hawks.

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• The Indiana Pacers were embarrassed on their home court by the Orlando Magic on Sunday night. CLICK HERE.
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