Pacers News: Emerging Indiana Role Player Unpacks OT Sixers Loss

The Pacers are 1-2 to start the season.

Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

The breakout team of the 2023-24 season has gotten off to a slow start this season following their loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday. The undermanned 76ers, missing Joel Embiid and Paul George due to knee injuries, scored a season-high 118 points as they went on to defeat the Pacers 118-114.

This was their second straight loss, after the Pacers previously lost their second game of the season to the New York Knicks. The Knicks blew out the Pacers 123-98, and the team was unable to fully rebound against the 76ers.

Aaron Nesmith, who contributed 10 points, seven rebounds, and one assist in the loss to the 76ers, said the team has to find their rhythm.

"Finding our rhythm, playing as a group," Nesmith said after the game. "We're going to have to find that rhythm, we're going to have to take the time necessary to find it, and once we do, we find it."

The Pacers have not seen consistent shooting to start the season either. Pacers All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton is just 31.8 percent from the field and 20 percent from the three-point line. He's off to a sluggish start to the season thus far, but the hope is he will turn it around.

In their second game against the Knicks, Haliburton failed to make any of his shot attempts, and the Pacers fell short of 100 points. The Pacers rank last in the NBA in shooting percentage from the three-point line, hitting just 26.9 percent from the three-point range.

Nesmith believes the team will turn their performance around. The Pacers are coming off a great season in which they made the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals, but they look far from that team through three weeks. Nesmith emphasized that the Pacers have a long season ahead, and that they will "be just fine."

"I think guys are just putting too much pressure on what we did last year," Nesmith said. "It's a brand new year. Give us time. We're going to get there. We're going to be just fine."

The Pacers will get their next chance to start turning around their season when they take on the 2-1 Orlando Magic on Monday. They will then face the Boston Celtics in an Eastern Conference Finals rematch.

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