Happy Holidays! Oh, and the Pacers lost to the Magic, again

The Pacers dropped to .500 after struggling to stop the Magic without fouling.

Photo: @OrlandomagicLA

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to one and all!

After enduring the Pacers sixth loss if that last seven games, figured it would be much better to lean into the spirit of the season and thank all of the IC subscribers for your support, particularly those with paid subscriptions. Can’t express enough appreciation for that support along with all of the comments and emails since this tipping off this new approach a few months ago. THANK YOU!

Unfortunately, the roster building issues I mentioned in my first post, prior to the summer offseason, remain as we prepare to welcome the first day of 2024. Dynamic length and inconsistent play have been the glaring issues of late as the Magic beat the Pacers, 117-110 on Saturday night to drop the Pacers record to a level 14-14.

The .500 mark is like a lump of coal in the Christmas stocking since the Pacers have now lost six of their last seven games and appear set to battle for a play-in spot for the rest of the season unless they can change their ways. Granted, short-term injuries have helped breed inconsistency since the rotation has had to adjust on the fly quite often over the past few weeks.

Tyrese Haliburton is frustrated with his play of late as his latest OTJ training has him figuring out how to deal with extra attention from every defense. The up and down effort of Hali’s supporting cast isn’t helping. Whether Buddy Hield, Myles Turner, Bennedict Mathurin…wait, I can list everyone in the rotation.

Even Aaron Nesmith, who has been the most reliable defender and providing big production in his reserve role, reached a snapping point last night. The Magic duo of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner combined for 58 points and were not stoppable inside the pain, even with Nesmith playing his usual undersized power forward role. Nesmith dealt with foul trouble throughout, eventually picking up all six. Those six were just the start of the fouls on the young pair of Magic forwards. 20 of those 58 points came from the free throw line. The Magic finished the game +18 from the line with 33 makes on 41 attempts after 30 Pacers fouls.

Arguing any of those 30 fouls would be a tough task, in fact a foul on Andrew Nembhard was the only puzzling call that sticks out. Nembhard was fouled on the ground as he went into a shot, which he made. The ref did not give him the continuation, instead resulting in a side out of bounds and an eventual empty possession for the Pacers that the Magic cashed in after the stop. Brutal five-point swing on a call that would’ve kept LeBron James out of the Hall of Fame were it always applied.

On a positive note, the Pacers had a great third quarter surge, taking a brief lead with Haliburton, Turner and Hield in particular putting the sold out Fieldhouse in a frenzy. That trio played heavy minutes, with Haliburton logging 40 minutes, but it seemed like the Pacers only chance after climbing back into the lead, was to keep the starters running for the rest of the game. Obviously, that wasn’t feasible and after a 33-point burst in the third quarter, the Pacers could only muster 18 points at winning time which ended in another loss.

The Pacers don’t have much of a holiday break, with Christmas Eve off but then they will need to travel to Houston on Christmas Day to prepare to play the Rockets on Tuesday in the first of two on the road.

Which Pacers players will show up and step forward, particularly among the reserve options remains the great mystery in search of answers. Bruce Brown was out against the Magic, which pushed Nembhard into the starting unit. While Carlisle is at it, he may want to try Nesmith, as well to get back to the starting lineup that worked as well as any last year.

But there are no options to handle the dynamic size like the Magic have and several top teams in the league employ.