Pacers HC Rick Carlisle Reveals Big Problem Indiana Can't Seem to Overcome

The Indiana Pacers dropped a tough game on Saturday to the Los Angeles Lakers on the road. But what made it even worse is that the Lakers were down both LeBron James and Luka Doncic.

Indiana was outplayed by the rest of the Lakers players and it showed from the very beginning. While the Pacers tried to make it a game in the third quarter, the Lakers were able to hold on for the big win.

After the fact, Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle wasn't happy with his team. Much like in other games during their current road trip, Indiana saw themselves go down by a ton of points and it came back to bite them this time.

"You cannot survive doing this and having these kinds of poor starts," Carlisle said. "We gotta look in the mirror. I've gotta look and consider everything. We gotta be better at the beginning of the game. We've gotta go harder and we've gotta fight harder."

It was overall a rough game for the Pacers and one that they would like to forget. The team started the game slow and it now has Carlisle worried for the remainder of the season.

"When you don't start well, you're always leaving too much to chance," Carlisle said. "... You have that kind of a horrible start and get down by 22 points, it's a massive hole on the road. We're a long way from home. There's plenty of reasons why we gotta avoid this."

The Pacers didn't shoot the ball very well while the Lakers took advantage of that fact. Los Angeles was shorthanded but was able to find a way to overcome everything to win the game.

Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton isn't concerned, however, as he believes it was just bad luck with the shot attempts not going in.

"I felt like we were getting exactly the shots we wanted," Haliburton said. "Just missing. I felt that way for four games. Especially in the first quarter, I'm really comfortable with the shots we've been taking as a group. They just haven't been falling for whatever reasons. It is what it is."

It was a credit to the resilience of the Lakers, led by guard Austin Reaves. Reaves dropped 45 points on Indiana and seemingly made them pay at all turns throughout the game.

Indiana will look to clean everything up in their next game when they take on the New York Knicks.

More Pacers news:

Pacers' Rick Carlisle Reacts to Blockbuster Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis Trade

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