The Indiana Pacers have started the season inconsistently, with their poor performance in road games being a major factor.
As one of three NBA teams with at least 10 losses on the road, the Pacers are looking to end a seven-game road losing streak when they play the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday night in New York.
Currently, the Pacers are 2-10 on the road after finishing 21-20 in away games last season, including a Game 7 win on the road in the second round of the playoffs against the New York Knicks. Their last road win was a 134-127 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Nov. 4. Since then, they have lost every away game, with an average loss margin of 12.9 points.
The latest loss was 122-111 to the Toronto Raptors in the Pacers’ final NBA Cup game on Tuesday. Indiana never led the game, trailed by 24 points, and allowed an 18-2 run. In the first half, they committed 14 of their 21 turnovers and were outscored 65-48.
This rough first half came two nights after the Pacers led by 19 points and scored 68 points in the first half, but still ended up losing by 15 points to the Memphis Grizzlies.
“A lack of force, a lack of overall force led to a lack of leverage,” said Indiana coach Rick Carlisle, after the Pacers joined Toronto and the New Orleans Pelicans as the only teams with double-digit road losses. “We own the first half. We’ve had too many stretches like that. We all own it, and we need to fix it.”
Tyrese Haliburton led the Pacers with 30 points on Tuesday, after scoring only eight points on Sunday. This was just the second time this season he scored 20 or more points in a road game.
The Pacers hope to break their road slump against a Brooklyn team dealing with injuries. The Nets are without their leading scorer, Cam Thomas, due to a strained left hamstring, and other key players may also be missing.
Besides Thomas, starters Dorian Finney-Smith (sprained left ankle), Cameron Johnson (sprained left ankle), and Ben Simmons (sore left knee) are listed as questionable.
These players missed Brooklyn’s 128-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls on Monday, which was the Nets’ worst defeat of the season and the second time they have lost by 20 or more points during their current three-game losing streak.
Brooklyn used a different starting lineup for the seventh straight game but struggled with shooting, finishing at 40 percent from the field after shooting a season-low 38 percent in a 100-92 loss to the Orlando Magic on Sunday.
The Nets trailed the Bulls by as many as 29 points, allowed 62 points in the paint, and were outrebounded 54-41 after losing the rebounding battle 52-33 against the Magic.
“Losing a second half by 20, it’s not good enough,” said Nets coach Jordi Fernandez, who also saw his team give up 32 fast-break points to the Bulls. “We have higher standards, the way we work, the way we play, the way we compete. And this was not good.”
“(The Bulls) scored 56 in the first half, and they scored 72 in the second half. So our defense was extremely bad. And our players know that our ball pressure has to be better, our competitiveness, our communication.”
The injuries are opening up more playing time for other players, including Dariq Whitehead. The 20-year-old forward, who had only three points in four previous NBA games, scored 18 points on Monday, including hitting six of Brooklyn’s 14 three-pointers.
Other players stepping up due to injuries are Tyrese Martin and Shake Milton. Martin scored 30 points on Nov. 27 against Phoenix and finished with 15 points on Monday. Milton added 14 points at Chicago, two games after scoring 22 points in Brooklyn’s 123-100 loss to the Magic.