The silver lining is that they didn't take it lightly, this homecourt loss to a losing team that threatened to drop them from third to fourth in the Eastern Conference standings.
Amid the somber Pacers' locker room following their 117-112 defeat to Orlando Saturday, quiet conversations sprung up around the locker room. Darren Collison called for Kyle O'Quinn to cross the room for a seated conversation. Bojan Bogdanovic, not yet dressed, stood in front of Collison, who was seated with his feet in a bucket of ice, for further reflection.
Thaddeus Young was blunt. Asked if this kind of defeat has more impact than most, he didn't hesitate.
"Yes," he said. "A loss like this hurts. It can bite you in the --- at the end.
"This is one of those situations where we have to win as many games as possible, especially with a tough stretch coming up. We have to figure out a way to get our ---- together."
The Pacers haven't consistently had it together since the All-Star break. They've won two, lost two, won one, and lost one. All three of the defeats have come to losing teams (at Detroit, at Dallas, and to the Magic) and they're not looking for silver linings. It's all about victories at this point.
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This latest defeat, before a capacity crowd at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, continued a south-bound trend. They started slowly, falling behind 10-0, fought back to take a 10-point third quarter lead, then failed to hold that. Their defense, once best in the league statistically, was less than adequate as they gave up at least 110 points for the sixth consecutive game since the break.
They've also been outrebounded in five of those games, and that was the most damning fault against the Magic. Orlando, merely the 23rd-best offensive rebounding team in the NBA entering the game, grabbed 11, eight more than the Pacers, and outscored them 20-5 on second-chance points. Add to the mix the Pacers' poor 3-point shooting (7-of-27) and Orlando's timely 3-point shooting (5-of-10 in the fourth quarter) and a loss was nearly inevitable.
"I thought we got out-scrapped tonight," said coach Nate McMillan, who took longer than usual to meet with the media after addressing his players in the locker room.
Photo Credit: Jessica Hoffman
McMillan also thought his players got caught up in the officiating (again), allowing their frustration over various calls and non-calls to distract them from the task at hand — an issue in most of the game since the break, he believes.
"You've got to play through that," he said. "After you talk about a call you have to get back to calm. These (referees) are going to make calls. They're going to go your way, they're not going to go your way. You can argue the call but after that you have to get back to calm.
"We can't allow that to distract us to where we get drunk on emotions out there."
Young and Myles Turner didn't seem to agree with that assessment, but they certainly took the blame for the loss, which dropped the Pacers' record to 41-23. Turner in particular struggled to keep up with his matchup for a second straight game. After allowing Minnesota's Karl-Anthony Towns 23 first-quarter points on Thursday while getting in early foul trouble, he was outscored by Orlando's All-Star center, Nikola Vucevic, 27-10. Turner still blocked four shots to boost his league-leading average but is struggling to find an offensive rhythm since returning from a hip injury that kept him out of two games last week.
"Defensively I'm feeling all right; I'm moving well," he said. "Offensively I'm trying to find my groove."
The Pacers led 98-94 after Bogdanovic — who led the Pacers with 25 points — hit a 15-footer with 8:04 left, but trouble was brewing. The Pacers were fighting the shot clock in their halfcourt offense, struggling to find good shots.
Orlando, meanwhile, was raining 3-pointers and flourishing with second chances. Through one 3 1/2-minute stretch late in the game it got a put-back basket from Jonathan Isaac off Vucevic's missed jumper, a free throw from Vucevic after Isaac grabbed the long rebound of Ross' missed 3-pointer, and then a 10-foot runner from Isaiah Briscoe after a team rebound of Aaron Gordon's missed 3-pointer.
At the other end, the Pacers came up with a sequence of a missed seven-footer from Bogdanovic, a Collison turnover, a missed two-handed dunk from Young, and a missed 20-footer from Turner to fall behind by seven.
Despite their shortcomings, and despite the absence of their two best players according to the analytics, Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, the Pacers nearly pulled off an improbable comeback. Trailing by seven, Darren Collison (23 points and 10 assists) hit a 3-pointer with 34.2 seconds left. Young then stripped the ball from Evan Fournier after the inbound pass and fed Wesley Matthews for a layup to make it a two-point game with 29.7 seconds remaining.
After Orlando's timeout, Fournier dribbled off a screen and hit a 3-pointer to secure the outcome.
"We should have switched the screen-and-roll, but we didn't for whatever reason and he got the shot off," Young said.
The Pacers held onto third place in the East because of Golden State's victory in Philadelphia later Saturday night, but threats to their top-four finish in the conference lie ahead. After Tuesday's home game against Chicago they embark on a stretch in which 10 of 11 games are against winning teams and eight of those 10 are on the road. That's why Saturday's loss was especially biting and why Tuesday's game against the 18-45 Bulls becomes that much more crucial.
"Teams are picking it up," Young said. "After the All-Star break, that's what teams do. Other teams are fighting for certain scenarios. They can ruin it for us or we can ruin it for other guys. The biggest thing is to play through anything. Whether we're making shots, just continue play with that hustle and fire every night.
"One thing's for sure, we definitely have to bounce back next game and be ready."
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Mark Montieth's book on the formation and groundbreaking seasons of the Pacers, "Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis," is available in bookstores throughout Indiana and on Amazon.com.
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