Rick Carlisle Admits Pacers 'Caught a Break' in Massive Win Over Suns

The Indiana Pacers got a massive win over the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night. They won the game in Phoenix, which gave them their fourth win in the last five games they've played. Indiana won the game 120-111 and did a good job closing out the game after some nervous moments.

Indiana had seven players score in double-figures in the game. Pascal Siakam was the big star of the game, recording 25 points and 18 rebounds. Tyrese Haliburton had another double-double, giving the Pacers 13 points and 12 assists in the game as well.

While this was an impressive win, the Pacers caught a break in the game. Rick Carlisle acknowledged that in his postgame press conference. Speaking to the media following the win, he acknowledged that things got easier for them when Devin Booker left the game with an injury in the second half.

"This is a very hard team to play, obviously," Carlisle said. "Very sophisticated offensive sets. Three great players. Booker went out. We caught a break there, but with Beal and Durant out there, you're still dodging missiles left and right."

Carlisle is right. Booker is perhaps the most dangerous scorer the Suns have. He killed the Pacers the last time these two teams played as well, dropping an incredible 62 points on them. Indiana was able to win that game even with that scoring outburst.

In Thursday night's win, Booker had 17 points and six assists before he left the game with a groin injury. That did still leave Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant out there to carry the scoring load. Durant ended up with 37, and Beal scored 16. Still, Booker is the alpha when it comes to scoring on that team.

Even once Booker left the game for good, the Pacers still had to play good basketball down the stretch. That's exactly what they did. They took care of the ball, only turning the ball over nine times in the game. That helped offset some poor shooting, as they only shot 43 percent in this game.

Some strong defense helped offset that poor shooting as well, as they forced 16 turnovers of their own. It was one of the most impressive wins that the Pacers have had so far this season. It was the kind of defense that they need to play if they want to play their way back into being a championship contender.

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