Indiana Pacers start slow defensively in Chicago, drop division game to Bulls
CHICAGO — Every Indiana Pacers game this season has been different, yet they have all started the same. Through five games, the Pacers have been down at the end of every first quarter after giving up a ton of points.
Wednesday night in Chicago, the blue and gold followed that roadmap. The Bulls led 38-27 after the first 12 minutes, and the Pacers couldn't stop anyone. Even with Myles Turner back for Indiana, they still had no answers for Chicago and its high-powered offense.
"We've got to decide that we're going to start games stronger, with more presence and more disposition," head coach Rick Carlisle said after the game.
The first half was perhaps the worst defensive half the Pacers have played this year. Not in raw numbers, but in process. They offered no resistance to the Bulls and had a ton of work to do to guide a second half comeback.
At first, it looked like they might pull it off. Buddy Hield scored 11 points in the first 6:27 of the second half to push Chicago's lead down to nine, which prompted a Bulls timeout. It didn't help. The Pacers pulled the lead down as low as four late in the frame and looked like they were going to make the game interesting. But the Bulls responded and were up ten entering the fourth quarter.
Indiana opened the final quarter with their second unit looking to finish off a comeback, but the reserve group instead gave up points, and the game was never close again. Chicago went on to win 124-109.
"We've got to get to the bottom of these starts to the games," Turner said after the game. He and the starting five were much better in the third and fourth quarters than in the first half.
The Pacers once again allowed a team to get enough open looks to easily hit better than 50% from three. It all stems from poor point of attack defense — Indiana gives up a drive, which forces a defensive rotation, which leads to an open three somewhere. The Pacers need to stop step one, the drive, to limit the open three that comes from it.
Another issue was inconsistent play from, well, everyone. Hield had 16 of his 25 points in the second half. Three of Turner's four blocks came in the fourth quarter. All 12 of Chris Duarte's points came in the first half, while 13 of Jalen Smith's 15 came in the second half. While Indiana had several strong performances, they didn't overlap outside of the early portions of the third quarter, when Smith, Hield, and Tyrese Haliburton were putting their stamp on the game.
Hield played his best game of the season en route to 25 points. "I think the ball moved well," Hield said after the game. He said he played "pissed off," which helped ignite stronger play.
Smith and Haliburton also were big in this game, as they have been in recent performances. Smith was the only Pacer with a positive +/-, and Haliburton posted the only double-double.
The Pacers will hope to bounce back and play better first half defense on Friday when they take on the Washington Wizards on ESPN. It is one of Indiana's only national TV games of the season, and they will be looking to avenge an opening night loss, so look for the blue and gold to be focused from the jump.
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