Possession battle doom Pacers vs Spurs, but inconsistency is the real concern
The Pacers lost again on Friday night. They cannot play a 48-minute game.
INDIANAPOLIS – On Friday, for the third time this season, the Indiana Pacers had six of their top nine players from last season available. And for the first time of 2025-26, they had six of those guys active in consecutive games. Yet they got beat badly, and it was telling.
Andrew Nembhard, Bennedict Mathuin, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, T.J. McConnell, and Ben Sheppard each suited up as the Pacers hosted the San Antonio Spurs. Of the Pacers top nine in minutes from last season, only Tyrese Haliburton, Myles Turner, and Obi Toppin were missing. The Pacers are, finally, getting healthier.
The first two times during which the blue and gold had a half-dozen of that top nine available, the game went down to the wire. The first instance was opening night (with McConnell replaced by Toppin), and the Pacers took the OKC Thunder to double overtime in that battle. In the last 10 seconds of regulation, the game was tied.
The second instance was New Year's Eve, when the Pacers and Magic were knotted up until Paolo Banchero gave Orlando the edge with eight seconds left. I don't mean to present moral victories, but rather say that the Pacers had been mostly solid and competitive when almost all of their best talents have been available this season.
Tony East
Then they played the Spurs. First quarter? Good stuff. The Pacers jumped out to a nine-point lead in the opening frame with Nembhard scoring what felt like at will. The bench unit, which looked different, was a bit wobbly. But the Pacers still exited the frame with a 31-30 lead after a gorgeous press break led to a McConnell layup to end the period. Could this be the win the Pacers have been searching for?
No, it was not. The second quarter was a mess. The Spurs shot 16/26 including 6/12 from deep. That's 10 missed shots, and San Antonio grabbed a rebound on four of them. The Pacers added eight turnovers in the frame. During one 12-minute stretch, the Spurs found their groove when it came to finding good shots. They also upped the defensive pressure and dominated the glass. The Pacers had no response.
"Tough game. The second quarter was the killer," Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said postgame before even fielding a question. Something like this has happened in almost every game, so this isn't new. But to write it down – second quarter: Spurs 41, Pacers 27, the other three quarters: Pacers 86, Spurs 82.
For long stretches every night, the Pacers look like the team many thought they could be. For somewhere between four and 12 minutes, they look like the worst team in the league – which is exactly what their 6-29 record says they are.
"We've got to look for more consistency throughout the game," Carlisle said.
In this game, that inconsistency came via the possession battle. San Antonio leads the league in defensive rebound rate and showed it, pulling in 37 of the Pacers 42 missed shots. Four weren't grabbed by anyone. That leaves one – yes, one – offensive rebound for the Pacers. It's their lowest total of the season (previous worst: three in Toronto on November 26) and prevented the Pacers from getting extra chances. The last time in Pacers history they had one or fewer offensive rebounds in a game? March 3, 2006. Almost two decades.
The turnover numbers are boring in comparison: 14 for the Pacers, 12 for the Spurs. Ho hum, normal stuff. But that's still more chances for San Antonio, who finished the game with 12 more shot attempts and 13 more free throw attempts. Even with the Pacers shooting a better percentage from the field, they had little chance to win due to those wide margins. And so, they lost again – the 11th time in a row.
They are not a good team. Or maybe they are? (Obviously not, but allow me to continue). They have clearly shown that they can do, both on an individual and team level, all of the things that plague them in specific games. Turnovers cost them in Miami, yet they're top 10 in that category. They couldn't keep the Spurs off the defensive glass, just like they couldn't keep the Rockets off the offensive boards not long ago. While not a great rebounding team, they've been better than that. They couldn't stop Boston from three or New Orleans from two. They couldn't make a free throw against Milwaukee or give a single damn against Washington.
It is good that the Pacers are capable of being competitive for most of games. It is bad, and extremely perplexing, that they can't hold that level for 48 minutes, and during their ongoing losing streak it's for a different reason almost every night.
If Pacers players knew why this was happening, they would fix it. That's the challenge in asking for their thoughts on current issues and inconsistencies. But I tried.
T.J. McConnell (who experienced a 19-game losing streak and a 1-30 start as a rookie): "Hard to really pinpoint. In one quarter of the games that we've lost, it just really hurt us. Whether that be concentration or just matching up in transition, we're right there. And kind of just, I don't know, maybe lose focus. And that quarter ends up costing us, because the rest of the game we're right there."
Micah Potter (who has been on the team for just a few days), in part: "That's a great question. That's what we're trying to figure out. It's so hard... the amount of different people we've had coming in and out," he began. "There's no continuity, and it's tough to develop chemistry with that kind of thing. Injuries too, we've been decimated by injuries, obviously... As competitors in the game of basketball, we all want to win. So if you're in this losing streak and you find yourself in this rut, you've gotta find a way to find joy outside of winning."
Who knows what it will take to fix this. With the draft as a consideration, losing games this year is way more palatable than a typical season. But inconsistent losses with little pop from young players (Sheppard, Johnny Furphy, and Kam Jones all showed something against the Spurs) do nobody any good. The Pacers need 48 minutes of something.
The rotation, changing again
This is becoming noteworthy after almost every game. Friday night, Aaron Nesmith started instead of Johnny Furphy, a move that was clearly going to happen at some point. No surprise there, and Nesmith was playing well even with more minutes of late.
More surprising? Micah Potter earning his first start with the Pacers. It wasn't shocking in that Potter has been the best five man on the roster the last few games. It is surprising in that those words can be typed. He wasn't even on the team on Christmas. Now, he's the best option on the interior – comfortably.
"I don't know how many teams he's been with, but he's made these transitions before," Carlisle said of Potter fitting in quickly. "He's a guy that loves to play, loves to compete."
The lineup of Nembhard-Mathurin-Nesmith-Siakam-Potter started the second half of Pacers vs Magic two days prior, so that unit already had some reps. They were -1 in 10:20 vs the Spurs, though Potter finished +4 and Nesmith +2 individually.
Potter has been quite good, and he had 16 points plus six rebounds in this game. He has been unquestionably the Pacers best center of late and deserves to hold this role until his level of play fades (if it even does). The thinking about his contract becoming guaranteed or not has certainly changed in the days since his signing.
That was not the end of the rotational shifts, though. Sheppard and Furphy were the first two players to enter the game as reserves, then Jay Huff (once again the backup five), then McConnell and Jarace Walker at the same time. That didn't feel too atypical, but Walker came in later than he has in recent games.
In the third quarter, Mathurin committed his fourth foul with 10:10 still on the clock. With so much time remaining, Carlisle took him out for... Kam Jones? Interesting. Jones instantly had a solid defensive rep against De'Aaron Fox.
Then came Sheppard. Then Furphy and Huff. Finally, McConnell... for Jones. Walker didn't re-enter the game in the second half as Jones logged 10:06 of playing time in the third and fourth quarters, nearing Walker's 11:13 from the first half.
I asked Carlisle about going away from Walker, who had 11 points on 4/6 shooting (but didn't play as well as those stats suggest) in the first half. He simply called it a coach's decision. Jones did play well, too, more so on defense as he contributed two points, one rebound, and one assist. The Pacers outscored the Spurs by 16 with Jones on the floor.
Mathurin foul trouble and San Antonio's guard depth makes it impossible to know if Walker was simply benched or if this shift was specific to one game. But a lot changed for the Pacers rotationally on Friday night, and it's all worth keeping and eye on again today in Orlando.
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