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Pacers vs. Bobcats Links: Pacers leave mess behind in Charlotte for home opener against Kings

The Pacers have to digest a bad loss in Charlotte before their home opener on Saturday night against Sacramento.

By Tom Lewis

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Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

Another night another hero? Not exactly for the Indiana Pacers.

After David West did the heavy lifting in a comeback win over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday and George Hill took care of the game-winner, the Pacers found no one to make the game-winning play against the Charlotte Bobcats to mask yet another sub-par effort.

On the Pacers' final possession, George Hill made his way into the lane again, but this time Charlotte closed the tear ducts and left G3 an opening to find D.J. Augustin open for a game-winning three-pointer against his former team. Unfortunately, Augustin pulled the string on that 3-ball and it bounced harmlessly off the iron, never considering a trip through the net for another exciting win for the Pacers.

Ugh.

Charlotte threw all kinds of new junk at the Pacers under new coach Mike Dunlap. The Pacers referred to it as college stuff that took them to school, as the game was lost well before Augustin let that final three-pointer fly.

As David West said after the game via Mike Wells, there is no way to sugar coat this loss to the Bobcats.

"This is a bad loss," Pacers forward David West said. "It really is, especially with our schedule. It basically negates the win we had at Toronto. Collectively we didn't put together the right effort."

Maybe it is a good thing the Pacers were left to wallow in their mess. Had Augustin bailed them out, like West and Hill did in Toronto, maybe the impact of another bad night with turnovers (19 on the night) and missed free throws (16 for 27 on the night) wouldn't resonate. Nah, a loss in the NBA is never a good thing.

Believe me, they're feeling it now, though. I don't care which NBA team the Pacers play, if they get 30 points from Lance Stephenson and Tyler Hansbrough (15 each) they should win running away. Instead they are running home 1-1 to play in redeem mode for the home fans at the Fieldhouse on Saturday. After this performance, the Pacers will have to earn their home court advantage by making the fans go crazy with their play on the court.

Check out the aftermath of the loss in the links:

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