Indiana Pacers clutch woes return in loss vs New York Knicks

The Pacers fell at home to the Knicks for their fourth loss in five games

The Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks battled on Sunday night, and the game came down to clutch moments. That's bad news for the Pacers. Since December 5, the Pacers have played eight games, and all eight of them have involved clutch time, which the NBA defines as a game being within five points with five or fewer minutes remaining.

The Pacers have gone 3-5 in that stretch, and two of those wins were against the Golden State Warriors. They are 1-5 against all other opponents in that stretch — the blue and gold have struggled to close games recently. Their battle with the Knicks was no exception.

With five minutes to go, Indiana led by six. They were on a 12-4 run and looked like they had New York figured out, all they had to do was keep applying pressure. But the final minutes of the game went the opposite way.

From that point on, the Pacers made just two shots and missed six. They turned the ball over twice and missed four free throws — all from Myles Turner. The Knicks, meanwhile, scored 16 points in the final five minutes and sliced the Pacers open. In the end, the Pacers fell by three for their fourth loss in five games, and their play down the stretch is to blame.

"New York made some big shots, made some big plays offensively," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said of crunch time. "It's just some minor things," he added of what went wrong for his team.

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This has been a theme for the Pacers of late. In the month of December, they lead the league with eight games that ended with clutch time. In those moments, Indiana has the 20th best offensive rating (98.0) in the NBA and the worst (141.3) defensive rating. That -43.3 net rating is 30th in the association. The Pacers have been atrocious with the game on the line, and they were again versus New York.

Results, and stats, in a smaller sample can be misleading. But the jarring part of the Pacers clutch play is their style. Throughout this season, Indiana is fifth in the NBA in pace with 102 possessions per 48 minutes. They run often and play fast.

In the clutch during the month, the Pacers pace is 96.75, which ranks 19th in the NBA. They slow down drastically late in games, which isn't how they play. That makes them look inexperienced and ineffective.

"Yeah, we slow down in the fourth because we're attacking mismatches and things like that," Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton said after the battle against the Knicks. He doesn't think that the slower pace is impacting the team's play, though. He instead thinks it's a natural consequence of a simpler fourth quarter game, and he isn't concerned with that change.

The Pacers are a young team, and they will figure out how to win close games as they grow together. But this game, the team's fifth clutch loss in the month, was evidence that they still have a way to go in that area. With the loss, the blue and gold fell to 15-16. They are under .500 for the first time since they were 5-6 on November 11.

"We've gotta finish games. We're playing well for like (three)-and-a-half quarters," wing Aaron Nesmith said after the game. "We've gotta figure that out."

Nesmith was a bright spot in this game, finishing with a career-high in points and rebounds with 23 and ten, respectively. He had his best game ever in the loss.

Haliburton also finished with a double-double, contributing 15 points and ten assists. Buddy Hield dropped 23 points.

The Pacers will attempt to get back to .500 on Wednesday when they travel to Boston to take on the Celtics. Boston has the most wins in the NBA, so it will be a tough battle.

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