This should not have been happening.
The Pacers had slogged their way through a desultory first half, trailing 56-47 to one of the NBA's worst teams – an Atlanta squad that had won just three of 15 games, had lost six in a row, had lost by 45 points at Denver two nights earlier and had given up more points than any in the league.
And here they were, starting the third quarter the way they had finished the second. Giving up a three-pointer to Kent Bazemore less than a minute into it and then immediately turned the ball over and giving up a breakaway dunk to Bazemore. Atlanta had scored 17 unanswered and nearly unchallenged points to take a 14-point lead.
Nate McMillan called timeout to stop the bleeding, but it was two veteran Pacers — the only two who know what it's like to turn 30 — who applied the tourniquet. While the coaches talked among themselves on the court, Thaddeus Young stood in front of his seated teammates and screamed, waving his arms. Darren Collison got in more than two cents worth as well.
"I cussed everybody out, including myself," Young said after the 97-89 victory at Bankers Life Fieldhouse that improved the Pacers' record to 10-6. "I just told them, 'What are we going to do? Who are we? At some point we have to take a stand. We should be running them out of the gym right now.'"
The conversation continued after the huddle broke and the five players who started the second half regathered on the court before play resumed. Young stood with his arms around the shoulders of Bojan Bogdanovic and Collison, facing Tyreke Evans and Myles Turner. He talked seriously, emotionally, with Collison chiming in a few words.
"I just told them, 'Let's take these next four or five possessions and take a stand on the defensive end and come down and run our stuff and take good shots,'" Young said.
The turnaround was immediate. Collison, who had missed all five of his field goal attempts in the first half, dribbled upcourt, kept dribbling behind Young's screen, and hit a 3-pointer from the left wing. Turner then rebounded Bazemore's miss and Collison took it the length of the court through traffic down the middle of the lane for a layup high off the glass.
Turner then blocked Alex Len's layup attempt and the Pacers ran. Turner later missed a 3-pointer from the left wing, but Young and Collison hustled after the ball and Young saved the possession by deflecting it off Kevin Huerter. His momentum carried him into the Hawks bench, where he briefly took a seat next to former Pacers big man Miles Plumlee.
The Pacers nearly turned it over when play resumed, but Turner corralled the loose ball and fed Bogdanovic for a 3-pointer from in front of Atlanta's bench, reducing the deficit to six.
The momentum had shifted in one minute, and never found its way back to the Hawks. Aaron Holiday's 3-pointer with 2 1/2 minutes left in the period gave the Pacers the lead for good. Four reserves started what the starters had begun, playing the entire fourth quarter. By the final minute, victory assured, Young, Collison, and Turner were exchanging congratulatory fist bumps on the bench.
Several players had a meaningful role in the outcome. Victor Oladipo's exit 4 1/2 minutes into the game because of a sore knee left a vacancy ultimately filled by 11 teammates. Six players scored in double figures. Domantas Sabonis added nine points and 16 rebounds. Cory Joseph scored just four points, but was a defensive catalyst with five steals. Doug McDermott, Kyle O'Quinn, and TJ Leaf each contributed something as well.
It all hinged on a singular turning point, however.
"It was time for us to show some fight," said Collison, who finished with 12 points, five assists and one turnover. "It seemed when Victor went down everything seemed to shift toward them. We acted like we didn't know how to play the game anymore. We're good enough to play without our best player.
"If all else fails, you've got to compete. I just felt like we needed that fire."
McMillan was happy not to have to be the one to bring the matches.
"Sometimes these guys have to police themselves," he said. "There wasn't much I could say."
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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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