Pacers' Rick Carlisle Details Team's Biggest Issues After Loss to Magic

Matt Levine | 4 Hours Ago

Mike Watters-Imagn Images

The Indiana Pacers dropped a heartbreaker on Wednesday night to the Orlando Magic by a score of 94-90. It was a back-and-forth game but in the end, Indiana couldn't make the big play to come away with the win.

The loss saw Indiana drop to a record of 5-6 in the new season, a disappointing start to the year for them. There hasn't been a lot of consistency from the Pacers in every game and it has hurt them on the court.

After the game, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle discussed some of the biggest issues for Indiana against the Magic.

"It was a disjointed game on offense for both teams because the intensity and physicality on defense were so high. So then it becomes a game of mistakes and we didn't do a very good job."

The Pacers were outscored by eight points in the fourth quarter as their offense came to a standstill. Carlisle pointed this out and how their lack of physicality hurt them when it mattered most.

"The level of physicality of the game increased even more in the fourth quarter," Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. "The first three or four minutes hurt us. We needed to do a much better job of rebounding the ball and avoiding crowds offensively. Probably needed to pass it more. Find other ways to get it into the paint rather than trying to do everything off the dribble. We did it from a lot of different positions and we made it tough on ourselves."

One of the bigger issues for Indiana was their defense in the painted area. Orlando outscored the Pacers 40-32 in the paint, bringing the struggles of Indiana to light once again.

Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton scored only nine points in the loss, continuing a troubling start to the year for himself. When Haliburton has off nights, it's very difficult for the Pacers to field any sense of competitiveness on the floor.

Forward Pascal Siakam led the way for Indiana, scoring 25 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Bennedict Mathurin chipped in 23 points and 12 rebounds, continuing his strong performance of late.

But for the Pacers, they will need more consistency if they want to be taken seriously in the Eastern Conference. Something needs to change, otherwise, it could quickly become a lost season for them.

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