The Pacers have been in this position before, coming off a discouraging one-sided road loss.
Just last Friday, in fact.
Then, they responded to an 18-point defeat at Milwaukee with a vigorous practice session that led to a 17-point homecourt win over Chicago. Tuesday, they said they had a similar practice following Monday's 22-point road loss at Charlotte, and hope it carries over to Wednesday's game against Philadelphia at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.
They're anxious for the day they don't have to deal with rebounding from embarrassing losses, but this is who they are at the moment – a new team with a new coach trying to get acquainted with one another and establish a personality, one that can be taken on the road.
They're undefeated in three home games and defeated in four road games, with losses by an average of 16.5 points. The consistent issue has been defense, where they've given up an average of 117 points on the road. That's a drastic change from previous teams that were among the best defenders in the NBA, and a surprising one given the emphasis they have put on it during practice and the lip service they have given to it after practice.
Perhaps it shouldn't be, though. Of the seven worst defensive teams in the league at this early stage of the season, six are led by first-year coaches, with Boston's Brad Stevens the exception. Defensive chemistry doesn't come quickly or easily.
"The offense normally is ahead of the defense when you start out," Pacers coach Nate McMillan said. "Most of the guys, that's how they got here, their offensive skills. Defense requires you to commit, not only individually but collectively."
The Pacers' best defender, Paul George is discouraged by the defensive performance. Not because they've failed to play it well, other than last Saturday's win over Chicago, but because they're capable of playing it well but aren't.
"I know we're more than capable, that's the frustrating part about it," George said. "I'd probably just go with the flow if I knew we couldn't be a great defensive team, which is really the exact opposite of what we look like right now. That's the frustrating part, because I know how good we can be.
"It's not on the coaches. They're giving us the blueprint of what needs to be done. It's on us as a group."
The lack of chemistry has infected the offense at times, too. The Pacers are averaging 108.3 points and hitting 50 percent of their field goal attempts, plenty good enough to win most games. They've looked out of sync at times, though, especially in Monday's loss at Charlotte when they committed 18 turnovers and hit just 43 percent of their shots.
Scoring isn't a problem, obviously. Learning how to bring out the best in one another is. George would like to see the starters be more assertive, without taking bad shots.
"Nobody's going out there to make plays and take the game on their shoulders," he said. "With the randomness (of the new offense) we're trying to figure out how to play with one another. We got guys who don't want to step on guys' toes.
"It might call for that at this point. We need guys to step up and be confident. That's the only way it will work to play this random ball, with everybody being a force offensively. We're not having that. We're looking to make plays on our own, (instead of) using that aggressiveness to make plays for other people. That's what teams are doing to us. They're not attacking to score themselves, they're attacking to get guys open. That's what we're failing to do."
For a role model in that department, the Pacers need look no further than teammate C.J. Miles, who has been the most consistent threat in their offense while playing off the bench. Miles is averaging 15.7 points over 21 minutes per game, hitting 55 percent of his field goal attempts and 51 percent of his e-point shots. He's by far their best scorer on a per-minute basis, and has achieved that by doing what George called for: being assertive.
"I'm being in attack mode with the ball and without he ball, and it's helping a lot," Miles said.
Miles gives credit for that to an opponent's scouting report, slipped to him over the summer by an unnamed source. It said to play him aggressively on the perimeter and take away the 3-point shot, because he would usually settle for that and not drive to the basket.
"Reading it and seeing it on paper from somewhere else...it's like watching film," he said.
Miles kept that in mind during his offseason workouts, as he tried to sculpt a body both strong enough and quick enough to play three positions, and develop a mindset to go along with it. So far it's worked. He's shooting quickly behind the three-point line, and driving aggressively to the basket when the opportunity is there.
"I try to keep the game as simple as possible, because it's hard to guard," he said. "Like they say, simplicity is genius. Don't force anything. If you're in attack mode you're either going to make a play for yourself or make a play for someone else. You can't overthink it.
"That first unit, you see them overthinking it because they try to defer to each other a little bit. They're trying to find ways to help each other so much, but really the talent level they all have...just being in attack mode and playing basketball opens up things for (all of them)."
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