Pacers' Rick Carlisle Details Reason Behind Benching Entire Starting Five in Heat Matchup

Jeremy Hanna | Nov 16, 2024

Nov 15, 2024; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton (0) reacts in the second half against the Miami Heat at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images / Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

In last night's surprising loss to the Miami Heat, the Indiana Pacers did not look like a team that had made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in the previous season.

At the end of the first half, the Heat were leading 61-55, and things only got worse at the beginning of the third quarter.

This led to Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle making the tough decision to bench the entire starting five after they gave the worst defensive performance the team has seen over the last two seasons. And they were already in the bottom five in most defensive categories.

This was all perfectly summarized when the crowd booed Indiana, and Carlisle agreed with them.

"Ugly game," Carlisle said, per Dustin Dopirak of The Indy Star. "A lot of ugly stretches. Pretty clear that I didn't have these guys ready to play. Put the responsibility on me. I've got to do a better job of getting these guys prepared. It was embarrassing. There were two stretches where our fans booed, and rightly so. I was ashamed to hear that, but they were right."

At the same team, Carlisle gave the Heat credit for the win, noting that they were a desperate veteran team at the moment.

"Poor effort," Carlisle said. "I think we showed five transition clips at halftime where we just simply were not playing hard enough. Miami is a polished, veteran team that is desperate right now. They're under .500 and they're trying to fight their way out of that. They're a team that can make you look bad. And they did."

Fortunately, the bench players stepped up for the Pacers. After being down 89-67 in the third quarter, they got the team back in after going on a 14-2 run. However, this effort was dwindled when the starters re-entered the game, only to be brought out for bench players again.

In the end, this was an eye-opening game for Indiana. They were expected to decisively win this game. Instead, they were embarrassed by a team that was missing their franchise player.

Fortunately, the Pacers will get a second shot at Miami on Sunday. And Carlisle wants the team to be ready.

"We've got some adjusting to do before the game on Sunday," Carlisle said. "I think a lot of guys are thinking about what happened right now tonight. We'll meet tomorrow to go over some of this stuff and do what we need to do to get better."

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